Long Shot is a romantic comedy directed by Jonathan Levine and written by Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah. The plot follows a journalist who begins to spend time with his former babysitter who is now the United States Secretary of State. While I’m not a fan of Charlize Theron or Seth Rogen, the plot of Long Shot was intriguing, so I decided to see the movie.
In 2019, U.S. Secretary of State Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) is told by her boss, President Chambers (John Odenkirk), that he does not plan to run for a second term. Realizing an opportunity has now arisen, she convinces POTUS to endorse her as a potential presidential candidate.
At the same time, New York City journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogan) is being told that the newspaper he works for has been sold to Parker Wembly (Andy Serkis), a wealthy media mogul whose integrity, morality, principles and moral code is opposite to Fred’s. Disgusted, furious and disappointed, Fred promptly quits without any other job prospects. Adding depression to the list, he turns to his more successful best friend Lance (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), who takes him to a charity fundraiser where Charlotte is also attending. She and Fred recognize each other, as she was his babysitter when they were teenagers.
Upon reading some of Fred’s columns, Charlotte decides to hire him to write her speeches despite her manager, Maggie Millikin’s (June Diane Raphael) disapproval. At a world leaders summit, Charlotte is forced to revise a speech involving a planned environmental revision to appease some of her constituents. When Fred objects and calls her out on abandoning her morals, she changes her mind and the speech is a success. As the two continue to spend time together under the pretext of Fred learning more about Charlotte for his writing, they start to get close.
Long Shot continues from this point with many interesting sub plots. This movie is deemed a romantic comedy but I deem it as a farce and a satire. Because Seth Rogan does not ever play a lead male romantic role, and looks far from the part and Charlize is the epitome of beauty, the thought of the two of them together is a laugh. This is how our society sees things. Once you adjust to them being a real thing, you don’t have to ask why he doesn’t play these kind of roles. I do realize, this is his character in the film but he’s so good at acting a fool, he’s made a believer out of yours truly. Long Shot is definitely funny but no where near believable. Imagine a female POTUS married to a grimy, buffoonery acting husband who is far from being attractive. The media would have a field day, so would comedians and supporters. The performance of Boyz II Men at the fund raiser was a real treat and since Long Shot made me laugh, I consider it a pretty good movie. It’s not the best of either actor, but it can serve as a pick me up for someone who needs one. It received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the chemistry and performances of Rogen and Theron. Check It Out!
Just how many times is Hollywood going to remake Tarzan? I can’t come up with what motivates one to take on a project that’s been done so many times. The first Tarzan movie was a silent film called “Tarzan of the Apes” and was released in 1918. The ninth was called “Tarzan the Ape Man” and was a motion picture released in 1932. All in all, there were 57 Tarzan movies made between 1918 and 2013. Several books were written, starting in 1912, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who created the character. There were also many Tarzan television series through the years. Having said that, it seems Tarzan continues to be a fascinating subject that never grows old and never stops making money at the box office. With a huge budget of $180M, The Legend of Tarzan finished #2 on the weekend box office behind “Finding Dory” grossing $46.5ååM after being released less than a week. Go figure! The story basically stays the same. A young boy is brought up in the jungle by apes after his parents are killed. Upon his return back to civilization, (England) Tarzan, who has fallen in love and married to Jane Porter, has acclimated to life in England having discovered his true identity as Lord Greystoke. Under King Leopole’s rule, Tarzan is asked to scout out his old digs in the Congo for signs of the Kings improvements to the land. Instead, something else is uncovered that includes a plan that Captain Rom intends to use the diamonds to pay for a massive army to subdue the Congo and allow Belgium to mine its wealth for Leopold’s benefit. Of course Tarzan being ruthless and powerful, will stop at nothing to rescue his family, the Congo and the slaves, along with the right to live free. The claim to fame in this version of Tarzan is eye-candy, Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan / John Clayton III / Lord Greystoke, the beautiful Margot Robbie as Tarzan’s wife / Jane Porter Clayton / Lady Greystoke, the charismatic and clever, Samuel L. Jackson as George Washington Williams, an American envoy who suspects the king of several atrocities, Academy award winner, Christoph Waltz as Captain Léon Rom, a corrupt merciless Belgian captain, sent by King Leopold of Belgium to find diamonds and control the region and the handsome hunk, Djimon Hounsou as Chief Mbonga, the leader of an African tribe who controls the diamond region, and wants revenge against Tarzan for the death of his son.
CAROL's WORLDS 