June Diane Raphael Archives

BLU-RAY REVIEW:

Street Date 7/30/19;
Lionsgate;
Comedy;
Box Office $30.32 million;
$29.95 DVD, $39.99 Blu-ray;
Rated ‘R’ for strong sexual content, language throughout and some drug use.
Stars Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Andy Serkis, June Diane Raphael, Lisa Kudrow, Bob Odenkirk, Alexander Skarsgård.

The often crude but usually charming Long Shot reframes the tropes of the romantic comedy by setting them against the backdrop of the arena of American politics, blended with a touch of stoner humor for good measure.

It’s The American President by way of Pineapple Express, as secretary of state and presidential candidate Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) has a chance encounter with Fred, an opinionated writer (Seth Rogen) she used to babysit, and asks him to join her campaign as a speechwriter. As they grow closer, some of her refinement starts to rub off on him while he helps her loosen up a bit, both in the pharmacological and carnal sense. This leaves the rest of her staff to wonder what the potential relationship could mean for the campaign.

Though set in the political world, the love story doesn’t get bogged down with too many political specifics, which is probably for the best as the political landscape presented in the film doesn’t bear much scrutiny. Then again, the film isn’t aiming for Sorkin levels of verisimilitude here.

Subscribe HERE to the FREE Media Play News Daily Newsletter!

Charlotte is basing her presidential campaign on a major environmental initiative, which Fred likes, but works for an administration that Fred ultimately opposes, with a president (Bob Odenkirk) who used to play a president on a TV show and decides to forgo a second term to cash in his popularity to pursue a film career.

The president will endorse Charlotte to replace him if she doesn’t make too many waves, but his media tycoon buddy (Andy Serkis, unrecognizable in heavy prosthetic makeup) wants to chip away at the effectiveness of her activism. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s chief of staff (June Diane Raphael) wants to set her up with the equally available, but socially awkward, prime minister of Canada (Alexander Skarsgård). The more willing Charlotte is to compromise herself for political expediency, the more Fred is left to wonder where the candidate ends and the woman he may be falling in love with begins.

The satirical look at the broader strokes of the American political system are cute, but let’s face it, the odds of the nation’s chief diplomat getting away with negotiating a hostage crisis while high on Molly are slim to none. So, the only way the movie works is if the audience buys the relationship between Charlotte and Fred, and luckily Rogen and Theron work well together, finding an easygoing chemistry that helps us enjoy their adventures for what they are.

The Blu-ray includes about 100 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes that cover everything from the writing to the casting to the wardrobe. The most interesting is an interview with comic book artist Todd McFarlane, who contributes a key piece of art to one of the funniest gags in the film.

BLU-RAY REVIEW:

Street 7/3/18;
Universal;
Comedy;
Box Office $59.84 million;
$29.98 DVD, $34.98 Blu-ray;
Rated ‘R’ for crude and sexual content, and language throughout, drug content, teen partying, and some graphic nudity.
Stars Leslie Mann, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz, Hannibal Buress, June Diane Raphael, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Gideon Adlon, Graham Phillips, Miles Robbins, Gary Cole, Gina Gershon, Colton Dunn.

Kay Cannon’s directorial debut Blockers puts a spin on the typical “teenagers trying to lose their virginity” plot by approaching it from the point of view of the parents. And in doing so, the film becomes a coming-of-age story for both sides, as the parents learn to accept that their kids are growing up amid the abundance of storylines involving the children coming to terms with their own identities.

The parents are played by Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz, who discover what their daughters have planned for prom night through the magic of a randy text-message chain, an open laptop and the magic of iCloud beaming identical content to every portal signed into it. Mann plays a single mother who doesn’t want her daughter’s youthful indiscretions to mirror her own, while Cena is hilarious as the straight-laced dad who never wants to picture his little girl growing up. Barinholtz is more of a wild card, the divorced dad who argues not to get involved in their daughters’ sex lives but ends up going along with the other two more or less for the wacky adventure of it.

And that’s where the film gets to have it both ways, mining gags from both the typical teen plots and the desperation of the parents in chasing after them from one party to the next. The film isn’t afraid to get as raunchy as these types of films can get, but balances it out with moments that are actually kind of sweet. It isn’t shy about debating the morality of what the parents and kids are up to, either.

Thrown in the middle is Colton Dunn, the kids’ limo driver who gets some of the best throwaway lines in one of those minor roles that exists in the margins but provides a good opportunity for a performer to go to town with it.

The Blu-ray backs up the film with a number of funny supplements, starting with a few short deleted scenes running about two-and-a-half minutes total, a gag reel about the same length, and a “Line-O-Rama” of alternate takes running about seven-and-a-half minutes.

There are a couple of fun sketches that each run a little more than two minutes, with Barinholtz describing the history of sex in one, and Cena instructing viewers on how to create a “Prom Survival Kit” in the other (snacks are important).

The making of the film is covered in four topic-specific featurettes. The five-minute “Rescue Mission” covers the film in general, while the six-and-a-half-minute “Prom Night” focuses on how the filmmakers created the prom scenes as they reflect on their own prom experiences. The final featurettes are a bit more off-the-rails, with a three-minute glimpse at Cena’s infamous “butt chugging” scene, and a two-minute examination of creating the perfect fake puke for a projectile vomit scene.

Topping it off is a solo commentary from Cannon, who touches on the film’s key moments with some good behind-the-scenes insights, but leaves a lot of moments of silence as she’s just watching the film along with the rest of us. It’s enough to make you wish they were able to get more of the cast together for a commentary that could have potentially been a lot more fun.