Long Shot

In the tradition of Veep and other Washington DC satires along comes the most unlikely pol-com from The Book of The Absurd, involving Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, as Secretary of State and a left-leaning alternative journalist who loses his job when a right wing publisher takes control.

He believes in saving the world from climate change. She believes in maintaining good relations with the president for his endorsement when she puts her name forward after he announces that he won’t be standing again.

It’s all about ambition and betrayal, nostalgia and sex. When he was a kid and she was a couple of years older she would babysit him. They have this in common as well as memories of an embarrassing incident neither want to remember nor talk about.

The Secretary of State is surrounded by a covey of women doing keep-in-line duties and disapproving of Rogen’s very existence. The humour, if that is what they call it, cascades from his inappropriate behaviour during a world tour.

The politics are basic if not base and do not fulfil a rich man’s lunch hour. The love affair makes no sense and since it rolls through the rock of the action you find empathy difficult to apply to any of the characters.