Movie Review: The Interview

It goes without saying that The Interview is the most controversial film of the season. Even before the Sony hacking fiasco caused the movie to be pulled from theaters, it was generating a buzz among film critics and eager viewers, despite being practically universally panned by major movie critics. When Sony got hacked by anonymous cyber-terrorists in an apparent response to the upcoming release of the movie, the controversy and buildup for the movie exploded, making what previously had been a dumb buddy comedy into a social and political phenomenon. Despite all that, and partially because of it, I caved and decided to watch The Interview. I went into the movie expecting the worst, and although I wasn’t disappointed in that regard, I was surprised to find myself laughing more often than not, despite the movie’s many failings.

In the movie, James Franco plays an egotistical and dimwitted entertainment news anchor. He and his producer and unofficial au pair Seth Rogen are contacted by the CIA with a plan to assassinate Kim Jong-Un after landing an interview with the reclusive leader.

The majority of the humor in The Interview is not explicitly funny, but absurd enough to draw a laugh out of anyone who has a general knowledge of current events and understands the context of the jokes. Randall Park’s performance as Kim is probably the funniest aspect of the movie. Park portrays Kim as an unassuming, shy, insecure frat bro with an amusing passion for margaritas and Katy Perry. While not funny in and of itself, the idea that such a personality could be responsible for the aggressive and erratic behavior of the DPRK both adds to the movie and satirizes North Korea’s behavior in recent decades.

The rest of the movie relies on Franco’s bumbling incompetence to provide humor and advance the plot. The plot follows a wave-like pattern of mishandling situations and then having to salvage them; even the film's climax and resolution occur with the same repetitive form. For fans of Rogen and Franco, the duo is fun enough to watch onscreen that this relatively weak story structure is palatable. To anyone who doesn’t follow pop culture or revere Franco and Rogen, The Interview doesn’t have much to offer.

Ironically, due to its poor reviews, The Interview would probably have done worse if it had been released in theaters as planned. Although the film created political shockwaves that are unlikely to fade anytime soon, I fully expect that The Interview itself will fade into obscurity fairly quickly.