The movie that almost launched a million Taepodong missiles! The Interview is likely to forever be remembered as the film that pissed off North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un so much he declared it an "act of war". Or maybe the film that saw Sony Pictures tap dancing like Savion Glover as they tried to figure out whether to release it or duck for cover. With so much controversy clouding just about everything with this rather sophomoric comedy, it may be easy to overlook the nuts it took to make it in the first place.
Now that I've seen the movie for myself it makes me chuckle that theaters were going to swap The Interview out with Team America: World Police if Sony didn't release it, because North Korea has real reason to be pissed at this one. This isn't a puppet version of Kim Jong-il acting as your basic global terrorist; this is a pretty direct slap in the face to Kim Jong-un by painting him as not just crazy, but a total fraud screwing over his people. The funny thing is, this movie would have come and gone if it weren't for all of the scandals surrounding it. Now the guys who gave us Pineapple Express are delivering the same brand of stoner humor on a much larger scale, and people will go out of their way to see it. Like most films of this type the gags are hit 'n miss, but the jabs at both North Korea and the United States land pretty effectively.
James Franco plays Dave Skylark, the self-absorbed celebrity host of talk show Skylark Tonight, with Seth Rogen as his uptight producer Aaron Rapaport. Like something out of an episode of The Newsroom, Aaron is pretty embarrassed at their silly pop culture show and wants to do something profound. So he convinces Dave to go along with the idea of doing a broadcast that isn't about the latest Hollywood scandals. After discovering that Kim Jong-un listed Skylark Tonight as his favorite TV show, Dave's big idea is to head to North Korea for an interview. Aaron doesn't think it has a chance in Hell of ever happening, but a few phone calls (to the North Korean Olympic committee, no less) later and suddenly they're in. Of course it comes with some serious conditions; like delivering the kind of softball interview they only conduct on Fox News.
This is a pretty sweet opportunity for any journalist, but the CIA sees it as a great chance, too. Lizzy Caplan plays Agent Lacey, who seduces Dave into a plot to assassinate Jong-un. Aaron is against it, but goes along with it out of loyalty to his buddy. But once they arrive in North Korea, it's Dave who goes full-blown Dennis Rodman and forms a serious bromance with the dictator. We're talking a close-knit bond built on mutual inferiority complexes. Dave has never been taken seriously as a journalist; while Jong-un is living in his father's shadow and must always show strength.
While Aaron is busy trying to hold the mission together, all the while falling love with Sook (Diana Bang), a member of Jong-un's elite inner circle, the film really becomes about Dave and Jong-un's friendship. This leads to some of the movie's best moments, which are mostly of a visual nature. The sight of Franco drinking margaritas while blowing stuff up in a tank is great, almost as good as Jong-un playing basketball like Michael Jordan. The further the film goes over-the-top in depicting North Korea the better. Of course there is the requisite party scene with hip-hop beats and slo-mo, but some of this stuff seems slapped together like an extended sketch comedy. But that's pretty much been par for the course when Goldberg and Rogen get behind the camera. At just under two hours this episodic approach begins to be a drag until everything turns on a dime and things get bloody and hyper violent in short order. There are plenty of laughs, with Rogen and Franco going a mile a minute throwing them at us, but nothing that would resonate in any meaningful way.
There's nothing new to be found in the dynamic between Franco and Rogen we've seen it so often. Rogen makes for a better straight man while Franco is at his best when playing vapid and clueless. Here's hoping Randall Park doesn't get overlooked for what is a truly inspired performance as Jong-un. As the dictator he glides mercurially between awestruck fan to dangerously spoiled and finally to vengeful despot. It was also refreshing that the script doesn't call for him to be a total incompetent. Some pretty heavy shots are taken at North Korea, obviously, but the United States is the target of some harsh criticism, too. When Dave and Jong-un finally get to verbal sparring, America's interventionist attitude gets called out. Not to mention the indisputable fact that we don't always treat our poorest citizens that great, either.
Is The Interview worth all this trouble? Should anybody go to war over it? Probably not, but it does feel good to stick it to North Korea a little bit. The best comedies aren't afraid to aim high and upset some powerful folks, and while The Interview doesn't always work it takes some big gambles to entertain.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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