The Interview
2/4
Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Randall Park, Lizzy Caplan, Diana Bang
Rated R for Pervasive Language, Crude and Sexual Humor, Nudity, Some Drug Use and Bloody Violence
No one can stop talking about "The Interview" because of the whole controversy behind it. Sony was hacked by North Korea, who then threatened retribution if they released the film. The company then pulled the film from release, which resulted in an outcry from George Clooney to President Obama. Now seeing "The Interview" has become an act of defiance against tyranny and a celebration of the First Amendment. That would be all well and good if the film was actually worth seeing.
I was not looking forward to seeing this movie. Seth Rogen used to be one of the funniest men in Hollywood, but his ego led to some potentially funny films ending up as travesties. His thirty-year-old-manchild schtick has grown stale and his bromantic relationships teeter on the edge of being offensive. I'm all for gay jokes, by the way, as long as they're funny. Sadly, Rogen loves doing riffs on the same joke that have the same moderately funny punchline.
To my surprise, "The Interview" is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There are plenty of painful sequences, including five bits where Rogen and his good pal James Franco keep doing various takes on the same joke (I kept thinking to myself, "I get it! Move on!"). But there is also a surprising amount of material that works, and anything with Randall Park, who plays the much hated dictator, hits paydirt.
Dave Skylark (Franco) is the host of trash news show "Skylark Tonight," and with the help of his producer and bro Aaron Rapaport (Rogen), it's become as watched as any other news show. But after a run-in with a former classmate, Aaron begins to want to go legit, and convinces Dave to do the same. That's when they get a call from North Korea, saying that the new dictator, Kim-Jong Un (Park), is a fan of their show and wants to appear on it. After broadcasting their plans to the world, a pretty CIA operative named Agent Lacey (Caplan) asks them to "take out" the dictator (this is one of the many sequences that Rogen and his co-writer/co-director Evan Goldberg stretch out long past the point where it's even remotely amusing). Eventually they agree, but both Dave and Aaron are morons, and they keep screwing up. More trouble arises when Dave begins to think that Kim isn't such a bad guy and Aaron falls for one of the censors who is overseeing the newscast (Bang).
I am tempted to write the same thing I wrote for every other recent Seth Rogen movie: funny when the bits are short, but Rogen insists on delivering the same punch-line again and again. For example. One of the gags is how they find Lacey attractive and how that can be used to manipulate them. It's funny when we discover that Dave has become aroused by her bosom that she doesn't show, but do we really need to hear (and see) another variation of the joke and two others about what they plan to do about it? Or do Dave and Aaron really need to spend a whole minute trying to get over the awkwardness of telling each other that they love each other (obviously in a totally hetero way)? The answer is no on both counts.
Rogen keeps himself in check for the most part, and that's to the film's benefit. Lately, he's become a stand-up comic in his movies, rather than a stand-in for ourselves, and shooting his mouth off about the same lame jokes rather than offering an insight (if a juvenile one) into male behavior. James Franco, on the other hand, is the walking definition of "trying too hard." I'll give him credit for landing a few successful jokes, and he and Park have comic chemistry, but more often than not he's so irritating that I wished that someone would just shoot him or throw him out of a window. Lizzy Caplan is once again forced to play a cynical bitch, even though she's proven that she can act (see "Cloverfield" for an example). Randall Kim is a scene-stealer as Kim-Jong Un. He's given the best lines and understands the concept of comic timing and reaction shots. Diana Bang is adorable, but she's really just a pretty face.
It would be pointless to criticize "The Interview" for being sexist or homophobic. Rogen and Goldberg have deliberately avoided anything resembling political correctness, which is fine by me. They give voice to common male insecurities about their sexuality; that's their appeal. But am I the only one who is tired of Rogen and his crowd obsessing over the size of a girl's boobs are or what kinky sexual things they would do to the girl (no mention is made of what the girl would do, or even giving her a possible point of view, which in addition to being insensitive, ignores some very intriguing and potentially hilarious jokes and gags). And can we please have an end to the "bromantic" posturing? It was daring when Rogen and his friends first started doing it, but now that homosexuality is more accepted, it's become old, tired, and way passe. Surely we can show a two guys telling each other how much they care about each other without all the awkwardness?
So what about the controversy? For lack of a better expression, it's "all fury, signifying nothing." While Kim-Jong Un isn't shown in a positive light, neither are we. Just about everyone in the film is a complete jackass. Stupid characters are fine ("Borat," "Tommy Boy," and the "Bill & Ted" movies are examples), but they have to be smartly written. But the jokes here are lazy. In fact, there's a major plot hole at the end.
Of course, this backfired with huge fanfare, as is always the case with harmless movies that are subject to complaints by people who aren't portrayed as perfect individuals (just ask the Catholic League, who used to pitch a fit at any movie that didn't portray priests or Catholicism in general as flawless). Sony has successfully capitalized on that, and now "The Interview" is a must see.
In the end, though, "The Interview" is another movie that's dwarfed by the unwarranted hype.
Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Randall Park, Lizzy Caplan, Diana Bang
Rated R for Pervasive Language, Crude and Sexual Humor, Nudity, Some Drug Use and Bloody Violence
No one can stop talking about "The Interview" because of the whole controversy behind it. Sony was hacked by North Korea, who then threatened retribution if they released the film. The company then pulled the film from release, which resulted in an outcry from George Clooney to President Obama. Now seeing "The Interview" has become an act of defiance against tyranny and a celebration of the First Amendment. That would be all well and good if the film was actually worth seeing.
I was not looking forward to seeing this movie. Seth Rogen used to be one of the funniest men in Hollywood, but his ego led to some potentially funny films ending up as travesties. His thirty-year-old-manchild schtick has grown stale and his bromantic relationships teeter on the edge of being offensive. I'm all for gay jokes, by the way, as long as they're funny. Sadly, Rogen loves doing riffs on the same joke that have the same moderately funny punchline.
To my surprise, "The Interview" is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There are plenty of painful sequences, including five bits where Rogen and his good pal James Franco keep doing various takes on the same joke (I kept thinking to myself, "I get it! Move on!"). But there is also a surprising amount of material that works, and anything with Randall Park, who plays the much hated dictator, hits paydirt.
Dave Skylark (Franco) is the host of trash news show "Skylark Tonight," and with the help of his producer and bro Aaron Rapaport (Rogen), it's become as watched as any other news show. But after a run-in with a former classmate, Aaron begins to want to go legit, and convinces Dave to do the same. That's when they get a call from North Korea, saying that the new dictator, Kim-Jong Un (Park), is a fan of their show and wants to appear on it. After broadcasting their plans to the world, a pretty CIA operative named Agent Lacey (Caplan) asks them to "take out" the dictator (this is one of the many sequences that Rogen and his co-writer/co-director Evan Goldberg stretch out long past the point where it's even remotely amusing). Eventually they agree, but both Dave and Aaron are morons, and they keep screwing up. More trouble arises when Dave begins to think that Kim isn't such a bad guy and Aaron falls for one of the censors who is overseeing the newscast (Bang).
I am tempted to write the same thing I wrote for every other recent Seth Rogen movie: funny when the bits are short, but Rogen insists on delivering the same punch-line again and again. For example. One of the gags is how they find Lacey attractive and how that can be used to manipulate them. It's funny when we discover that Dave has become aroused by her bosom that she doesn't show, but do we really need to hear (and see) another variation of the joke and two others about what they plan to do about it? Or do Dave and Aaron really need to spend a whole minute trying to get over the awkwardness of telling each other that they love each other (obviously in a totally hetero way)? The answer is no on both counts.
Rogen keeps himself in check for the most part, and that's to the film's benefit. Lately, he's become a stand-up comic in his movies, rather than a stand-in for ourselves, and shooting his mouth off about the same lame jokes rather than offering an insight (if a juvenile one) into male behavior. James Franco, on the other hand, is the walking definition of "trying too hard." I'll give him credit for landing a few successful jokes, and he and Park have comic chemistry, but more often than not he's so irritating that I wished that someone would just shoot him or throw him out of a window. Lizzy Caplan is once again forced to play a cynical bitch, even though she's proven that she can act (see "Cloverfield" for an example). Randall Kim is a scene-stealer as Kim-Jong Un. He's given the best lines and understands the concept of comic timing and reaction shots. Diana Bang is adorable, but she's really just a pretty face.
It would be pointless to criticize "The Interview" for being sexist or homophobic. Rogen and Goldberg have deliberately avoided anything resembling political correctness, which is fine by me. They give voice to common male insecurities about their sexuality; that's their appeal. But am I the only one who is tired of Rogen and his crowd obsessing over the size of a girl's boobs are or what kinky sexual things they would do to the girl (no mention is made of what the girl would do, or even giving her a possible point of view, which in addition to being insensitive, ignores some very intriguing and potentially hilarious jokes and gags). And can we please have an end to the "bromantic" posturing? It was daring when Rogen and his friends first started doing it, but now that homosexuality is more accepted, it's become old, tired, and way passe. Surely we can show a two guys telling each other how much they care about each other without all the awkwardness?
So what about the controversy? For lack of a better expression, it's "all fury, signifying nothing." While Kim-Jong Un isn't shown in a positive light, neither are we. Just about everyone in the film is a complete jackass. Stupid characters are fine ("Borat," "Tommy Boy," and the "Bill & Ted" movies are examples), but they have to be smartly written. But the jokes here are lazy. In fact, there's a major plot hole at the end.
Of course, this backfired with huge fanfare, as is always the case with harmless movies that are subject to complaints by people who aren't portrayed as perfect individuals (just ask the Catholic League, who used to pitch a fit at any movie that didn't portray priests or Catholicism in general as flawless). Sony has successfully capitalized on that, and now "The Interview" is a must see.
In the end, though, "The Interview" is another movie that's dwarfed by the unwarranted hype.
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