When we first watched the trailer below for The Interview, we were pretty convinced that it was going to be a terrible movie that would inevitably miss the mark with clumsy comic timing and stupid delivery, but the reality is that it makes for a lot of laughs, possibly coming out as the best James Franco and Seth Rogen combo to-date. In addition to it rankling the deep seated glorification of the North Korean political elite, it also manages to nail the satire, send-up comedy and conscious self deprecation that runs throughout its wildly ridiculous plot.
However, it’s arrival at cinemas was stifled significantly by a hack attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment and subsequent threats to cinemas due to screen the film. This resulted in it getting pulled from the big screen with only a limited number of cinemas screening it, making it very difficult to watch the film. However, following its DVD, Blu-ray and digital download release on the 8th June 2015, it’s suddenly open season on the North Korean farce, and it’s definitely worth watching if you liked Pineapple Express or Your Highness, as it just beats both in terms of comedy value.
The story is a preposterous concept in itself, just to reiterate the fact that the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, apart from a certain outlandish satirical criticism of North Korea’s insular political outlook and lack of civil liberties. When chat show host Dave Skylark (Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapaport (Rogen) land an interview with Kim Jong-un in the heartland of North Korea, they get approached by CIA Agent Lacey who honey traps them into agreeing to assassinate the supreme leader.
While that provides a lot of comedy in itself, we can’t help but feel that it could have been achieved without having such an extreme end-game plan for the CIA. If Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird taught us anything it’s the importance of seeing things from the other side of the fence and we can’t help but feel that the US would have been a bit reactionary if a comedy film was made in North Korea about a plot to take out Barack Obama, although they probably wouldn’t have gone so far as to threaten Pyongyang cinemas for screening it. The point is that writers Seth Rogan, Dan Sterling and Evan Goldberg could have made a film with just as much funny as The Interview if the CIA plan was about surveillance and improved relations than about an assassination and for this reason we’ve had to mark our review score down a little. However, it is still pretty hilarious nonetheless.
A big part of the comedy might of the film comes from James Franco (Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes), who is brilliantly over-the-top as the brat pack style chat show host. He’s managed to find a whole new level to his humour and genuinely nails the lines as the uncontrollable interviewer. He’s backed up by another steady performance for Seth Rogen (This Is The End), although admittedly playing a very similar character make-up as pretty much every other film he’s ever done. Lizzy Caplan (127 Hours) makes a good CIA honey pot as Agent Lacey, Randall Park is pretty funny as Kim Jong-un and Diana Bang gave us a fair few laughs as Kim’s head of propaganda, Sook-yin Park.
There’s a big difference between a good silly movie and a bad one and The Interview definitely falls into the positive side of the equation. Although, it could have been improved with a smarter script and less extreme plot devices. If we’re honest, it’s hard to decide where the line should stand for a film like this, but either way you look at it, there’s a fair amount of crossover, which work in its favour as much as it detracts.
The Interview DVD review: 3.5/5
