The Long Shot (2019)

Elevator Pitch: Fred Flarsky, a radical journalist out of a job, accidentally meets his teenage crush who is now United States Secretary of State, and who is setting herself up to run for president by initiated a worldwide green campaign known internally as “bees, trees and seas”. She hires Fred who spends time learning abut her life to better write her speeches and who supports her initatives. They become lovers in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, but gradually fall out as she discards bits of her policy in order to maintain her presidential support.

Content: Well – there is masturbation, non-revelatory sex, a lot of talk about sex, a load of drinking and some drug taking. We travel about with the Secretary of State  and the journalist to different countries, in her aircraft and in hotels where on one occasion they are faced with gunfire and explosions. Charlotte, the SoS, meets with the President, makes speeches and is almost always unfeasibly glamourous. Fred follows her about and is mostly unfeasibly slubby.

A View: I was motivated to go and see this due to the enthusiasm for it from Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo, but I line up with the 20% of the critics who did not like it. If it was a comedy it was not funny enough, if it was a romcom, it was not romantic enough, if it was a political commentary it was not political enough and if it was a gross out movie it was not gross enough. And some of it could not possibly have worked. In retrospect since Fred jumps out of a third floor window and, in cartoonish style, gets up and runs away this was probably an indication by the director that we were to be in surreal territory. If so it was not surreal enough. So, unless you are a Seth Rogan fan, probably give it a miss.

Additional Info: At this point it seems to be unlikely to cover its production costs.