Review: The Interview From The Editor

When the movie lineup for 2014 was announced, it was assumed that one of the most talked about controversies would be that Jay-Z and Will Smith had decided to re-tell Annie, the musical about the orphan girl in the 1920s, in a modern setting with an African-American lead. In the background, however, was buzz that people we displeased with Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen’s new film The Interview. Things spiraled out of control last month, after the supposed Sony hack by North Korea. A group of North Korean hackers claimed that, if the film was released, they would bomb theaters that showed the comedy.

In the week leading up to the film’s Christmas Day release the threats became so serious that stars James Franco and Seth Rogen cancelled all public appearances, and Sony ultimately decided to pull the film’s release altogether. In a stroke of what some are calling “freedom”, the production company went ahead and allowed theaters to show the film on Christmas anyway. Whether it was a true act of terrorism or a brilliant publicity stunt is left to be seen, but one thing is clear — The Interview is just as ridiculous and just as much fun as any other film Goldberg and Rogen have put their hands on.

Franco plays Dave Skylark, a TV host who helps celebrities bare their souls. (Eminem comes out as gay in the movie’s opening moments; Rob Lowe reveals himself to be bald.) Rogen plays Aaron Rapoport, Skylark’s producer. Improbably, the pair land an invitation to travel to North Korea to interview the country’s despotic leader. After a montage of an ecstasy-fueled bender (because why not?), they receive a visit from a U.S. government operative who flashes some cleavage and tells them “the CIA would love it if you two could take him out.”

The plot unfolds from there, and it’s about as sophomoric as you’d expect. There are women in bikinis, a late-night encounter with a live tiger, and two tabs of Ricin poison concealed on Rogen’s person in the grossest way possible. The would-be assassins are waylaid when Skylark finds in Kim a kindred spirit. After the pair drink margaritas, fire artillery from a tank, and recite Katy Perry lyrics, Skylark decides he can’t follow through with the scheme. Then Skylark walks into a North Korean grocery store constructed to fool Western tourists. “The grapefruits are fake!” he cries. From there, it’s just a few minutes to the Kim Jong Fireball.

In a vacuum, the best thing the film has going is the parallel between fictional Rapoport, purveyor of celebrity news, and real-life Rogen, who has made a career out of juvenile jokes. Scoring Skylark an interview with Kim is Rapaport’s play for redemption, and while it’s a bit rich to imagine Rogen felt the same way about The Interview, killing a foreign leader onscreen represents something like daring when it comes to making stoner movies.

As for the film itself, it is on the same level of comedy and same level of goofiness that every other film Seth Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg have done in the past. If you are a fan of their previous movies, than this movie is definitely for you. If you are someone who doesn’t quite get the humor of say, This is the End, then you should pass. It brings the exact same things to the table: it is smart, it will make you laugh out loud, and it has a few scenes that pass over into stupid and gross humor.

The humor in the film is evident right from the beginning, including a scene that has been swirling around the internet which includes Eminem announcing that he is gay. however, the movie takes a while to truly find itself. It starts off as a mediocre attempt for the writing duo to meet the standards of their last successful movies, but picks up once the tv show host and his other half start embarking on their journey.

It is a fun movie though, and is definitely worth seeing after all of the controversy that surrounded it within the last few weeks. It is not necessary to see in theaters if you want to wait until its DVD release, but is worth a watch to see just what all the fuss was all about.