When a movie in one country is denied viewership by another country, you know something isn’t right. Now, you can argue that “The Interview” shouldn’t have been made in the first place, but is threatening another country with war over a joke really the right response? So I sat in my basement with a couple friends to watch this “banned” movie after downloading it from Google Play the day after it was supposed to be released in theaters.
From Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the team that brought you “Pineapple Express,” “This is the End” and “Neighbors,” comes another comedy that is full of bromance, clever, bad tasting jokes and star-studded cameos. Starring Seth Rogen as Aaron Rapoport and James Franco as Dave Skylark, the two run a celebrity talk show that come upon the opportunity to go to North Korea and interview Kim Jong-un. The CIA recruits them into the job of assassinating the dictator. The two friends accept the mission. Hijinks ensue.
And that’s where the movie is strongest. It may seem like it would be a political satire, and that’s what they are trying for, but it ends up as a buddy comedy instead of a parody of politics. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it just leaves it a little unclear of what the writers were trying to accomplish. Rogen and Franco work extremely well together. Their chemistry is hilarious and likeable, in the vein of “Pineapple Express.” Randall Park does a great job as Kim Jong-un; and as for the portrayal of Kim Jong-un, and the pending offensiveness of this movie, it wasn’t that bad. It wouldn’t be any worse if they did it as a Saturday Night Live skit.
There was a movie that came out a few years ago called “Team America” that involved the death of Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il, but he wasn’t offended by it at all. Kim Jong-il took it as it was meant to be; a joke. But overall, the jokes, violence and camera work are done with such style, and just like Rogen’s and Franco’s interactions, you can’t help but not like “The Interview.” Directors Rogen and Goldberg have once again produced a great comedy piece that does what a comedy is supposed to do: Give you some good laughs.
