{"id":18246,"date":"2019-05-02T17:09:21","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T00:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18246"},"modified":"2019-05-02T17:09:21","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T00:09:21","slug":"long-shot-defies-the-odds-and-comes-out-on-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18246","title":{"rendered":"LONG SHOT Defies the Odds and Comes Out on Top"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/24_0009_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14439\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Truthfully, romantic comedies are often about as predictable\nas it gets. Countless versions feature a down-on-her-luck woman making a change\nin her life, becoming more assertive, and in the process finding the charming\nman of her dreams. <em>Long Shot<\/em> is the latest genre effort to arrive on\ncinema screens, and thankfully, it offers a couple of enjoyable variations on\nthe tropes frequently seen in these types of features. The result is a likable\nand entertaining flick bolstered by its charismatic lead performances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Long-Shot-party-1024x696.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18247\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fiery journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) finds himself in\na difficult situation after the publication he works for is bought outright by\na wealthy media magnate. Angry, he quits the newspaper and sets out to confront\nthe right-wing businessman at a public event, but unexpectedly finds himself in\nthe company of Secretary of State, Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron). The popular\npublic figure has been informed that she will be endorsed by current President\n(Bob Odenkirk) if she chooses to run in the next election. Against the wishes\nof her advisor Maggie (June Diane Raphael), Field decides to hire Flarsky as\nher speechwriter. While on the road, a relationship between the two begins to\ndevelop, causing complications when it is noted that the shabby Flarsky hardly\nlooks like a proper compatriot to the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Long-Shot-entire-group-1024x621.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18249\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As readers may have guessed by now, this is actually a\nrom-com with the gender roles reversed. Field is the sharp, assured and\npowerful figure at the top of her game, while Flarsky is the bright, but\nunkempt and more awkward character who can&#8217;t believe his luck when the woman of\nhis dreams begins to show an interest in him. It&#8217;s an amusing variation on the\nformula, particularly when the insecure lead&#8217;s looks and manners are compared\nunfavorably by Field&#8217;s team to other potential romantic suitors like Canadian\nPrime Minister James Steward (Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Long-Shot-Canadian-Prime-Minister-1024x619.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18248\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course, a movie like this is only as good as the onscreen chemistry between its main characters. Surprisingly, Theron and Rogen are an excellent if unexpected pairing, trading casual conversations and personal in-jokes along with more heated exchanges on political policies and beliefs. There&#8217;s a lot of amusing back and forth between the pair, resulting in some great bickering and numerous laughs. The screenplay also does a solid job of rationalizing their affection for each other; it is revealed early on that the two seemingly very different characters share many of the same points of reference, because they grew up in the same neighborhood, and Field was Flarsky&#8217;s babysitter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Long-Shot-couch-1024x643.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18250\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The movie mostly charms over the duration of its running\ntime as all of the characters open up about the difficulties they face in their\nlives as public figures. Naturally, the movie isn&#8217;t all perfect. It runs over\ntwo hours and as such there are a few slow spots, in addition to a\nwell-intentioned but forced plea for Democrats and Republicans to just get\nalong and come to accept each other&#8217;s differences. And while funny, a big\ngross-out joke that is introduced late in the film and becomes a running gag\ndoes feel out of step tonally with the earlier material. Still, these are all\nvery minor issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Honestly, one wouldn&#8217;t have thought that a romantic comedy\nstarring Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron could have worked this well. The movie\nis sharply written and over the course of the story, the performances between\nthe central cast members ultimately get viewers to believe in the potential for\na relationship between these different characters. In the end, <em>Long Shot<\/em>\ndefies the odds and comes out on top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Truthfully, romantic comedies are often about as predictable as it gets. Countless versions feature a down-on-her-luck woman making a change in her life, becoming more assertive, and in the process finding the charming man of her dreams. Long Shot is the latest genre effort to arrive on cinema screens, and thankfully, it offers a couple [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,3229,4148,4660,11335,12593,12594,12595,12596,16236,16337,17310,17321,18073],"class_list":["post-18246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-bob-odenkirk","tag-charlize-theron","tag-comedy","tag-june-diane-raphael","tag-long-shot","tag-long-shot-film-review","tag-long-shot-movie-review","tag-long-shot-review","tag-politics","tag-president","tag-romance","tag-romantic-comedy","tag-seth-rogen"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}