Amid all the controversy over the release of the newest Seth Rogen/James Franco offering The Interview – the premiere getting pulled from cinemas in America and the botched online release because of threats following the Sony hacking scandal – it wasn’t always clear what all the fuss was about.
That is, until you take a cursory look at the plot. The Interview tells the story of Dave Skylark (Franco), a celebrity talk show host who is invited to enter North Korea to interview the reclusive leader Kim Jong-un (Randall Park), and is subsequently recruited by the CIA in a plot to “take him out”.
The Interview doesn’t employ much in the way of political satire in getting its point across – instead, it goes straight for the ridiculous, attacking Kim Jong-unwith some of the silliest comedy I’ve seen in a long time. But silly seems like the right form of attack for a despot who recently – in real life – had to go to rehab to kick his cheese addiction.
There’s a wide range of cameos in the movie, from Eminem to Bill Maher, and all of the hallmarks of a Franco-Rogen comedy are there, including a continuation of awkward gay jokes. Indeed, a lot of elements in the movie are below par – the script and narrative are both pretty shoddy, racing over plot details to skip to the funnier parts, and Franco just chews up the scenery instead of really acting the part. But all in all, this actually works to the movie’s favour, playing up the silliness even further.
While The Interview isn’t particularly clever or well-made, it is incredibly funny in its ridiculousness, and its outright silliness will probably charm audiences.
3/5 stars
The Interview is in cinemas now.
