Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen
Written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Dan Sterling
Release Date: 24 December 2014
Running Time: 112 minutes
Editor’s Rating: 2 out of 4 “secure” packages


I really dig Seth Rogen and James Franco’s senses of humor. I like the films they put out. Or at least I did, I guess. I should have noticed it a bit earlier, but they, or more specifically the writing/directing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have been making variations on a theme for the better part of a decade now. It’s two buddies, their best friends to the point of homosexual overtones, played up especially so for the sake of one-note “gay is weird” jokes, who then go about and do a thing despite themselves that a movie can revolve around.

This one just happens to take place in North Korea. Franco is Dave Skylark, the host of a Geraldo-meets-TMZ TV show that North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un, is a huge fan of. When his producer Aaron Rapoport (Rogen) gets the itch to do more serious journalism, they work out an interview with Un in North Korea. When the CIA get find this out, they decide to take the opportunity and try to get Skylark to assassinate North Korea’s supreme dictator. Will they do it? Maybe. But I’m sure it’s going to go off the freakin’ rails.

I’m joking, of course. I know exactly how it goes. The thing with Goldberg/Rogen/Franco/Apatow-style movies is that they have very strong performers that excel at improv and just being hilarious on the spot. Their sheer ridiculousness and blatant embrace of potty mouthing and other juvenile humor always strikes a chord with the eight-year-old in us all, but unfortunately, sometimes it just gets old, and we just realize it’s a one-trick-pony being put onto different stages. And unfortunately, The Interview just gives us more of the same here, even with the relatively exotic setting when compared to California, where every other film they made took place.

And while it’s fun to watch a world leader get parodied and as boring as it can be to see yet another bromance get threatened by that same person, a lot of it feels lackluster and predictable. Don’t get me wrong, it’s funny, it’ll just be a lot funnier if this is your first film watched by these guys. And for me, I guess I’m just getting a bit bored.

The best part of this film actually comes across in the actor portraying Kim Jong Un. Randall Park plays a rather human and coy guy who feels lonely at the top, but also has a rather maniacal side. It’s a surprisingly deep character in a film that has Joseph Gordon-Levitt covered in puppies. So big ups to Park for being a convincing psychopath, in the most positive way that statement can be construed.

Quick side note before I head out: This film caused a massive breach of Sony Entertainment’s network, because North Korea saw it as a slight against its dictator. So yeah, they’re right. But this film is something like a Polybius, the legendary arcade game that supposedly killed people or gave them seizures or some such silliness back in the 1980s. There’s no record of it actually doing any of those things, or that the game even exists. In that same way, The Interview will not overthrow the dictatorship of North Korea, it will not bring about greater public discourse towards the plight of what’s going on there in real life.

It’s just a silly, funny movie. Leave it alone. Just watch Seth Rogen shove a large thing up a private place and giggle. And leave the kids home. I shouldn't have to tell you that, but I will anyways, because I care. I'm a very caring person.

Butts.

Have a good day.

**I watched this film on a streaming service I pay for. I was not compensated for this review.**