Written by: Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah (screenplay by), Dan Sterling (story by)
Directed by: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogen, June Diane Raphael, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Bob Odenkirk, Andy Serkis, Randall park, Alexander Skarsgård
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Journalist Fred Flarsky reunites with his childhood crush, Charlotte Field, now the Secretary of State. As she prepares to make a run for the Presidency, Charlotte hires Fred as her speechwriter and sparks fly.
Verdict
Frequently this feels like an above average romantic movie about two opposites who attract, set against a political run that has the potential to have an opinion. The potential outweighs the results.
There's just a bit too much Rogen goofy and outlandish comedy. While I thought the movie lost the thread at one point, the end brings it back up a notch. While it has moments where it seems smart, that's all too often followed by a crude joke you'd see in a typical Rogen movie.It depends.
Review
This movie wants to touch a few political issues. Rogen plays a journalist Fred. We start with Fred having infiltrated a hate group of white supremacists. It's just a bit too easy as that group can be a de facto villain without doing much work. To escape Fred jumps out a second floor window, bounces off a car, and walks a way without injuries. It's just a bit silly and completely divorced from reality.
The writing isn't as bad as I expected for a Rogen comedy. This is a solid rom-com with the subject matter adding a bit of weight. Charlotte has the unenviable task of being a woman in a male dominated world. The movie explicitly notes the bias with news anchors that are completely over the top in reducing Charlotte to a sex object.
That may be the problem with this movie, it's frequently over the top in a way that borders parody in an otherwise grounded movie.
This had the chance to tackle a huge issue with running for political office, saying whatever is required to win without believing it while also making deals for support from unsavory characters. The movie doesn't take this very far, instead focusing on Fred's image being a liability for Charlotte's campaign. This movie never digs too deep.
Instead of chasing happiness regardless of optics, Charlotte is pushed to cede to society's emphasis on what looks right. The world wouldn't accept Charlotte interested in someone on a level deeper than just aesthetics. Fred isn't attractive enough. The world wants her to pair up with Canada's Prime Minister because they are both traditionally attractive people.
This seems to falter three quarters in, but when Charlotte and Fred split the movie comes back. Fred is surprised to learn his best friend Lance is a Republican, and I love their exchange where Fred realizes Lance's Republican shtick worked on him and got in his head. There's something deeper to that the movie doesn't explore, but it's a surprising observation. Party lines can be arbitrary and politics is frequently about getting into someone's head without them knowing it. At the same time benign statements can be weaponized and normalized.
The deepest part of this movie, that's completely unexplored, is a throwaway joke. That's a pretty apt description for the movie.
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