Long Shot. (15.)
Directed by Jonathan Levine.
Starring Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Bob Odenkirk, Andy Serkis and Alexander Skarsgård. 125 mins.
A Charlize Theron/ Seth Rogen romcom is definitely a long shot, but it might just work for you. Theron is the glamorous, single US Secretary of State eyeing up a run for the Presidency, while Rogen.... well, come on, you already know exactly what his character will be. After he gets taken on as her speech writer they become close during a world tour promoting her environmental initiative.
The humour is more him than her: erection jokes, weed jokes, pop culture jokes, ejaculation jokes. It is a fun time, but probably only a moderately good time. The two lead though are good. Theron gives us a peek at the woman behind her ice queen persona and the effort it takes to maintain, while Rogen is oddly charming. There are also plenty of top notch star cameos including Serkis giving us his Rupert Murdoch caricature.
As a political comedy it is soft, but maybe soft in a good way. Though it is mostly a smug liberal fantasy story its most telling moment is when Rogen realises how complacent and self-righteous he is, unable to deal with people who disagree with him. In these kinds of fairy tales you'd expect the normal person to humanise the princess politician but it's the other way round here. That's quite a controversial line to take. Theron is a politician genuinely motivated by public service. Swimming against contemporary wisdom its suggesting that politicians don't get the public they deserve.
Directed by Jonathan Levine.
Starring Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Bob Odenkirk, Andy Serkis and Alexander Skarsgård. 125 mins.
A Charlize Theron/ Seth Rogen romcom is definitely a long shot, but it might just work for you. Theron is the glamorous, single US Secretary of State eyeing up a run for the Presidency, while Rogen.... well, come on, you already know exactly what his character will be. After he gets taken on as her speech writer they become close during a world tour promoting her environmental initiative.
The humour is more him than her: erection jokes, weed jokes, pop culture jokes, ejaculation jokes. It is a fun time, but probably only a moderately good time. The two lead though are good. Theron gives us a peek at the woman behind her ice queen persona and the effort it takes to maintain, while Rogen is oddly charming. There are also plenty of top notch star cameos including Serkis giving us his Rupert Murdoch caricature.
As a political comedy it is soft, but maybe soft in a good way. Though it is mostly a smug liberal fantasy story its most telling moment is when Rogen realises how complacent and self-righteous he is, unable to deal with people who disagree with him. In these kinds of fairy tales you'd expect the normal person to humanise the princess politician but it's the other way round here. That's quite a controversial line to take. Theron is a politician genuinely motivated by public service. Swimming against contemporary wisdom its suggesting that politicians don't get the public they deserve.
