Carry a big shtick

Real-world drama aside, ‘The Interview’ is exactly what you’d expect

With all that’s been said about “The Interview,” actual reaction to the Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy has been drowned out by the media cacophony surrounding the unprecedented Sony Pictures hack. In the feeding frenzy since October, we’ve seen the inner workings of the movie sausage factory laid bare. Troves of embarrassing emails revealed everything from petty politics and power struggles to borderline racist jokes about the president (not to mention the personal information of thousands of Sony employees). Whole movies leaked onto torrent sites—“Annie” being the most high-profile case—and geeks slavered over plans to get Spiderman and The Avengers back together and even a “21 Jump Street/Men in Black” crossover.

Because “The Interview” portrays an attempted offing of North Korean president Kim Jong-un, the hackers demanded it be pulled from release; suddenly, seeing the latest low-brow bromance became an act of patriotism and a moral obligation (even more so when threats led ball-cupping national theater chains to drop out of showing the film at all. But, thanks to hundreds of independent theaters, including our own Circle Cinema and RiverWalk Movies, the film opened on schedule at Christmas to packed crowds. Like Jack Burton said, “May the wings of liberty never lose a feather.”  

Still, it turns out “The Interview” is just a perfectly passable, if hit-and-miss, lighthearted comedy from the guys who were in “Pineapple Express.” I can’t imagine why people would have expected anything else. 

Franco plays sensationalist talk show host Dave Skylark, and Rogen is his best friend and producer, Aaron Rappaport. When Aaron begins to feel bad that they aren’t doing more substantive news stories, Dave suggests interviewing the dick-waving North Korean despot because apparently he likes their show (episodes include Joseph Gordon-Levitt communing with puppies and Eminem coming out as gay). When they land the interview, a CIA agent (Lizzy Caplan) persuades the hapless dudes to attempt to assassinate dear leader.

And it’s intermittently pretty funny. I have a low bar for comedies. Make me laugh a few times and keep me in a good mood, and you’ve won. The gags come one after the other, a Zucker Brothers, kitchen-sink tactic of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but the ratio was good enough for me. Like all things comedy, your mileage might vary. 

Seth Rogen’s goofy stoner shtick remains intact, while Franco is mostly devolving into a parody of himself—his Gollum imitation is cringe-inducing, as are many of his choices. The film reminded me most of those mid-‘80s Cold War comedies like “Spies Like Us” and “Deal of the Century,” and I would be surprised if Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg— who also direct—weren’t thinking of those a little bit.

But it’s already clear that “The Interview” would have just come and gone were it not for all the history taking place around it. Its portrayal of Kim Jong-un as almost disconcertingly likeable seems more offensive than the idea of his assassination—espesically if you’re starving in North Korea. The film’s conceit plays KJU as the joke many see him as, rather than a despot whose sheltered tyranny is responsible for very real, ongoing human rights abuses. That feels misguided the more you think about it. 

Besides, imagine if another country put this movie out there and replaced Kim with Obama. We would all be outraged.

On second thought… 

For more from Joe, check out his 2014 cinema recap or his review of "The Babadook."