This is a film that should have been released as a silly little film starring those two guys from Pineapple Express doing what they do in every other film and then disappeared from our memories forever. Unfortunately, though, that is not what happened. In an unprecedented moment in cinematic history, this film will live on in infamy for a hacking scandal and bomb threats on cinemas in the U.S.A., as a result there was a huge amount of hype and expectation that came with the films eventual release. Regardless on where you stand on the hacking, bomb-threats and censorship ultimately this film is not worth all the sh*t that came along with it.
James Franco and Seth Rogen reunite for another ‘Bromance’ tale with all the things you have come to expect from this duo in their films. This time Franco plays a dim-witted TV news host who normally focuses on celebrity-based news stories who somehow manages to score an interview with Kim Jong-un (played by Randall Parks.) Once the interview is organised both Franco and his loyal TV producer-buddy Rogen are approached by the CIA, and are tasked with the mission of assassinating Kim Jong-un. As I have already said, Rogen and Franco bring us all the things that you have come to expect from them in previous films, however after several films of essentially doing the same thing, it is starting to get real f#%king tiring.
Before we begin with the more obvious problems in this film, I think a good comparison, controversy-wise, is Kevin Smith’s 1999 film Dogma. Dogma was judged as being anti-Christian and anti-Catholic long before the actual release by a very vocal group of people who had not actually seen the film. Had these people taken the time to see the film first they would have seen, as Kevin Smith himself said, that it was just a big dumb movie with a poop-monster. The Interview is the same, but worse than Dogma, this is just a dumb movie that would have been significantly improved with the appearance of a poop-monster. It is an uneven movie with lots of attempts at jokes, with very few actually being funny, Franco’s character is annoying, but not in the good way, you seriously want to punch him in the face. The violence in the film comes out of nowhere and feels very out of place in relation to everything else that has come before it.
There are some good points, not many but some. There is a funny interview featuring Eminem at the very beginning of the movie, it was surprising and you got a few laughs out of this even though some of it feels forced. One other good point is the performance of Randall Park as the real-life dictator; this dull film does actually start to come to life once he is on screen. He provides some real layers to the character; at times, you really sympathise with Kim Jong-un and can almost be forgiven for liking him, and when Park brings anger to the character, it feels authentic. Randall Park is probably the guy I feel the most sorry for, because this performance should have been in a much better film.
The film ultimately has Rogen and Franco doing the same thing they do in every movie: party-sequence, butt-jokes, quick flashes of graphic violence, bros fight, annoying Rogen-laugh, bros back together again, repeat cycle. Many of the jokes fall incredibly flat and any realism is lost within the film based on the sheer stupidity of the North Korean army and security that “Frogen” (I just “Brangelina’d’ the two of them) deal with throughout the film. Once again, the violence suddenly becomes extremely graphic and really adds nothing to the film besides shock-value and a really poor ‘Lord of the Rings’ joke that is built up for most of the film only to land with a groan.
The film does have some charm to carry it, but that charm has been wearing thin for quite some time. Essentially this is a dumb-movie that has only a few funny moments. Is it funny enough to warrant the hacking of so much private information and the risk of danger when visiting the sanctuary of a cinema? No.
The Interview gets two stars forced reluctantly up Seth Rogen’s ass.
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