The Interview: A Review

It's not every movie that causes an international incident. By now, it's safe to assume that most people have heard of The Interview, a comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen as journalists attempting to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un during a live TV interview, and the bizarre circumstances of its release. After a predictable outcry from the North Korean propaganda machine, the film's studio Sony had its computers hacked and terrorist threats were issued against any theater that dared to show the movie. That caused Sony to pull The Interview just weeks before its planned Christmas release and cancel any plans to release it at all. Only for that to cause a backlash here in the States, calling Sony out for their cowardice and independent screenings planned in protest. Ultimately Sony relented, giving The Interview a limited theatrical release and making it available to view online for a nominal fee. Just for the record, I saw the film in a theater and was attacked by exactly zero North Koreans. I tell you all this because the controversy surrounding this film is actually more interesting than the film itself.

Not that it's a bad movie but for all the hullabaloo and saber-rattling from that wacked Orwellian slice of Asia that the end result is so average can't help but feel disappointing. I'll get to why, but first a little expansion on the premise. Franco is Dave Skylark, host of a popular but brainless celebrity interview tabloid who with the help of Rogen as his producer Aaron Rappaport is able to coax shocking secrets and revelations out of even the most guarded of guests. Despite their popularity, the two are aiming to enhance their credibility in the TV news world and think they've found their chance when they learn that Kim Jong-Un is a huge fan of Skylark's. They set up an interview with the reclusive dictator in North Korea but are forcibly recruited by the CIA to kill Kim while on air to destabilize his regime. Being idiots though, Skylark and Rappaport screw things up as soon they arrive in the Hermit Kingdom. Skylark finds himself being charmed by Kim and begins having second thoughts about the assassination while Rappaport comes under suspicion from a particularly patriotic North Korean official.


Despite the political edge to the story, The Interview really isn't all that different from any of the other fratboy/stoner comedies that Franco and Rogen have done in the past. The two fill their roles of moronic prettyboy and chubby straight man as well as always, they could probably do this routine in their sleep, and the first half of the film is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from these two. Wacky hijinks caused by drugs, gross sexual innuendo, plenty of potty humor. None of the jokes are all that original, but if this kind of sarcastic slapstick appeals to you they're reasonably funny. Things pick up a bit when the pair arrive in North Korea and their inherent goofiness clashes against the stoic severity of the setting. It also allows them to do some light spy movie parody, watching Franco and Rogen blunder their way through stock scenarios like stealthily sneaking into a villain's stronghold or fighting their way through gun wielding henchmen is mildly more amusing then seeing them do their usual shtick.

Dave Skylark & his producer arrive in North Korea.

But funnier than either of our two leads is Randall Park as Dear Leader himself, Kim Jong-Un. While it would be easy to portray the 31-year-old despot as a cartoon supervillain, Park's performance and the script take a different tack. They show Kim as an exaggeration of his real-life persona, a combination of pampered man-child with deep-seated father issues and unhinged madman willing to rain nuclear fire down just to prove how dangerous he can be. And while it's funny when the former is going full Springtime for Hitler with Kim driving a Soviet tank while blaring Katy Perry, the latter is just as funny because we see his psychopathy through Skylark's empty-headed eyes and his inability to grasp just how crazy his new friend is. Working off the same contrast is Diana Bang as the propagandist Sook, who more than holds her own against Franco and Rogen even if she's just deflecting the two leads' silliness by parroting actual North Korean slogans with a straight face. It's still funny and Bang can also make her character intimidating when necessary.

Randall Park as Kim Jong-Un.
Yes, he does have a butthole.

The last thing I can say for The Interview is about the art direction. The film really does capture the feeling and look of North Korea, at least in the popular imagination. The country is depicted as a desolate landscape of grey rubble and barren trees lorded over by Kim's fortress, a structure that looks more befitting of Darth Vader than the pudgy tyrant. And the few cities we see are uniformly grey and lifeless, blocky buildings and empty streets under the ubiquitous portraits of Dear Leader. This really helps give the film's second half a great sense of place, though also something of a missed opportunity. It seems like the film could have exploited the inherent weirdness of Pyongyang more, though I suppose the farther they got from Kim Jong-Un the more the harsh reality of what an awful place North Korea is would have to come forward. And death camps kind of ruin the mood of a raucous comedy.

In the end, The Interview is just an average comedy. It's funny enough, but most of the gags are pretty obvious and it doesn't really do anything clever or original with its premise. If it hadn't been for the outcry from the actual Kim Jong-Un, the terrorist threats, and the back-and-forth over whether would release it or not, The Interview probably would have gone by without much notice. Whoever saw it would have had a few laughs, gone home, and forgotten about it a few days later. But with all that controversy, it's a shame that the actual movie doesn't measure up to the outrage. If you had any interest in it before or just want to symbolically stick it to North Korea, you'll like The Interview. If not, you won't be missing anything.

Final Score: 3/5