"The Interview"

By Matt Duncan
Coastal View News

“The Interview” is not entirely humorless. But by far the funniest thing about this movie is that some dictator halfway around the world thought that it was so seriously provocative, so worthy of outrage, that it called for an act of so-called “cyber vandalism”. This movie isn’t so seriously anything. And it is at most worthy of a languid wave of the hand, perhaps a derisive sneer, or maybe—just maybe—a chuckle or two. If you’ve burned more than three calories in the process, you’ve overreacted. So what’s truly hilarious is that “The Interview” has gotten the attention (and profits) that it decidedly does not deserve evidently because Kim Jong-un was so worried about it getting the attention that, again, it does not deserve.

Why doesn’t it deserve attention? Well, just watch the trailer. Also if you want to know the entire plot of the movie, just watch a trailer. Dave Skylark (James Franco), half-Barbara Walters, half-Perez Hilton, has a popular TV show where celebrities debase themselves. Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) is its producer. These two bottom-feeders get a chance to do something important when they land an interview with Kim Jong-un (Randall Park), who turns out to be a big fan of the show. But the CIA wants them to use their insider access to assassinate Kim Jong-un instead.

The rest of the movie is epicycles fluttering around the same plot points and gags. Skylark and Rapaport find out that Kim is surprisingly down-to-earth. Then they find out he’s not. They discover that Kim isn’t so bad. Then they find out he is. They think for just a second that Kim has his own side of the story and really cares about his people and actually isn’t doing such a bad job. Then they found out: Uh, nope.

Meanwhile they ride a tank while listening to Katy Perry, tangle with a Siberian tiger, hide things where even the TSA wouldn’t look, and play basketball with topless strippers. Yes, it is that kind of movie.

But with that said, “The Interview” is not as awful as I thought it would be. It has a certain level of self-awareness to it—awareness that it is, in fact, quite a dumb movie—that makes it hard to criticize too harshly. James Franco, in particular, should be lauded for the drunken smirk he wears on his glossy, contorted face throughout the movie—a smirk that says, “Yeah, I don’t know what this is either … so I’m just going to be relentlessly goofy.” At least he seems to be having fun. It reminds me of a sixth-grade slumber party: By midnight everyone in their soda- and pizza-induced stupor is giggling themselves sick over jokes they all know are ridiculously unfunny … but hey, why not?

Don’t get me wrong, “The Interview” is not a good movie. It is unabashedly dumb—nothing more, nothing less. Its guiding thoughts seem to be: “Wouldn’t it be funny if we made Kim Jong-un do this?” “Wouldn’t it be great if he turned out to be really into Katy Perry, margaritas, and gossip shows?” and “Kim should poop his pants at some point, right?”

The lasting legacy of “The Interview” will always be that, once upon a time, North Korea thought it was worth getting bent out of shape over. And yet ironically the only thing less effectual—less capable of being taken seriously—than North Korea’s threats is this movie.