Review: The Interview

Genre: Action | Comedy Directed by: Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg Starring: James Franco, Seth Rogan, Randall Park Written by: Dan Sterling, Seth Rogan

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Dave Skylark and producer Aaron Rapoport run the celebrity tabloid show “Skylark Tonight.” When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.

I caught the Interview on demand last week which is the latest comedy film from Seth Rogan and James Franco, on Christmas day as it was released online and everywhere else, so… pretty much everyone in the world has already seen this movie and already formed their own opinions about the film itself and the controversy surrounding the film. For those of you who don’t breathe air too often and are too stubborn to walk up on two legs and have not yet seen this film let me explain a little bit about this movie and whether or not it’s worth your time. The Interview is NOT worth your time. I will honestly admit that the controversy surrounding the film is actually a lot more interesting and entertaining than the film itself. It’s not that it’s a terrible film it’s that it’s a typical Seth Rogan and James Franco film in that there’s mostly absurdity running rampant masquerading as comedy but they don’t really sustain a satisfying story.

Oval eyed Franco!

High James Franco has slits for eyes!

The Interview has its moments and can be funny at times but for most people the film will only occasionally offer some laughs mainly due to satirical approach to some of the subjects covered. The movie had some pacing issues not to mention the consistency of the performances of the principle actors and the story varies wildly throughout the movie. At times you can easily notice that James Franco was so high that he could barely keep his eyes open for the scene and I can probably say the same thing for Seth Rogan but he had the advantage of wearing glasses throughout the movie as a distraction. James Franco is still James Franco… now, what that means is that the guy has the ability to deliver some incredible performances when he makes the proper effort but I guess this being a comedy rather than his first love, ‘drama’, Franco winds up being really inconsistent with his character and it’s noticeable. This is one of those films where it fell more on the inconsistent side and it was actually a notch down from his performance in “This is the End”. There are times where you can notice that he’s better and noticeably has good timing with fast flying Seth Rogan one-liners but it’s just not great. Seth Rogan is sort of on the same fence mainly because he pretty much plays the same character in every film, (himself), and you kind of have an idea of what to expect of him if you’ve ever seen any of his other films.

The Premise of Kim Jong Un allowing an interview from one of his favorite celebrities is great. It’s clearly a satire of Dennis Rodman’s own journey to North Korea over the years. That’s pretty cool and it makes a nice launching platform for the story to then go and get as crazy as it wants. The film just happens to take this and then slip, trip, and land right into ‘cliché land’!!! It’s these times that the movie relies on these macguffins to propel the story but unfortunately as a viewer I saw these moments and said to myself “something’s not right here…”.

Now whether or not you make the effort to see this film is up to you. It’s certainly not your patriotic duty or any of that nonsense, but go ahead and watch it if you want! The movie can be entertaining under the right circumstances and it will certainly be at least mildly entertaining your first time through but don’t be surprised if you don’t intend to re-watch The Interview very often. It’s not going to be for everyone (this means YOU!) but give it a shot if you want to see what the controversy was all about while you’re still on Christmas break. I personally think everyone should knock it off the bucket list and then move on. This isn’t Academy Award level entertainment by any means and may not even make it to the stoner kids “constant watch” collection. It’ll likely sit on the outskirts of the stoner collection where you keep the movies that you’ve seen so many times you just keep it for prosperity like Pineapple Express.