"The Interview": The Rant

[StealthySkeptic]

From the heathen ninja movie critic who brought you a Twilight Rant and Divergent Rant comes...

THE INTERVIEW: THE RANT

In my opinion, having just finished watching it, every aspect of The Interview makes it simultaneously the worst movie, the most decidedly average movie, and the best and most important movie of 2014. That may seem completely contradictory- until you look at the equally contradictory Blu-ray Disc art (above) for the recently announced "Freedom Edition" of the movie, invading retail stores everywhere on February 17th, 2015.

On the one hand, at this point, if you don't know by now that you're getting into a seriously dumb comedy with every Seth Rogen outing, then you must really live in North Korea (in which case, I recommend using Tor!). The Interview is no exception. I mean, come on- the only character Seth ever plays is a doofus stoner, and it shows on the box art.

On the other hand, it makes some pretty scathing political commentary on both North Korea and the United States, as outlined by the bold and kind of clever mimicking of North Korean propaganda on the box art.

On a third hand that appeared from my chest because FUCK LOGIC (which this movie does quite a lot of), if anyone had any doubt that the 21st Century would be defined by an unstoppable explosion of global interconnectedness, this movie, and all the controversy surrounding it, has proven it once and for all.

(P.S.: does anyone else find the "Freedom Edition" supremely ironic? I mean, freedom to do what exactly? Spend $30 of disposable income that North Koreans would love to have on yet another Seth Rogen focus group approved comedy with barely a couple hours of bonus features tacked on, in order to make us feel important yet also lazy the way that useless hashtags like #bringbackourgirls did, that's what!)

Let me deal with the interconnectedness issue first. It's not just about the power of the Internet to both try to shut down free speech and to make free speech impossible to shut down (whenever the Internet Archive hosts your movie, it will live on forever). But The Interview hacks and surrounding events led to several funny developments:

-If it weren't for the wild success of the PlayStation 4, Sony would probably be filing for bankruptcy because Columbia Pictures is like a chicken with its head cut off and its consumer electronics division is bleeding money.

-Sony also does not know the meaning of irony, having not only given their direct competitor Microsoft first dibs to sell the movie on Xbox Video before PlayStation Network, and also used Korean hip hop artist Yoon Mi-rae's music without her permission. You wouldn't steal a car, Sony, so why steal a film, I mean, music?!

-North Korea does not know the meaning of irony either, having made this movie all anyone could talk about on Christmas by trying to stop it.

-North Korea is the international political equivalent of a child trying to hold its breath until it gets what it wants, but this time they've been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and it'll be interesting (read: slightly scary) to see what happens)

-Steve Jobs' ghost has placed a curse on any movie that has been or ever will be made about him, as even with Sony selling the rights to Universal I still think it will be even worse than the one with Ashton Kutcher.

-A lot of people in Hollywood have large hate-ons for Angelina Jolie for petty reasons.

-Hollywood producers are spoiled (OK, that wasn't much of a surprise).

(SPOILER)

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-A defense analyst actually watched The Interview. And recommended not toning down the graphic death of Kim Jong-un that leaked online. What.

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(END OF SPOILER)

-Arthouse theaters are the best thing ever. A friend of mine who saw it on Christmas said his theater sold cups of wine- which I could've used at points!

-Physical media still has plenty of life in it, and pirates can be heroes too (bootleg DVDs of The Interview are going to be airdropped into North Korea by pirates working with the Human Rights Foundation, and presumably anyone who wants it will run into the jungle for it- now THAT could make a great movie one day!)

Anyway, point is, so many different people, studios, government agents, hackers/pirates, actors, etc. all collided in so many different ways over one stupid film that, after what seems like the conclusion of a very bad "So this guy walks into a bar" type of joke, film buffs, historians, and other scientists in the distant future will still study this movie as a turning point in cinematic, international, and entertainment political history, effectively making Seth Rogen and James Franco immortal, and making The Interview...

hock:

...the best and most important movie of 2014. Or at least worth the $3.99 to rent on iTunes.

Anyway, on to the actual movie. Here's the perfectly reasonable premise: bumbling entertainment interviewer Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his straight man producer Aaron (Seth Rogen) get a chance to prove they're serious journalists when Kim Jong-un arranges an interview because he's a huge fan of the show. Then the CIA recruits two people with PLENTY of experience in espionage to kill him because he's threatening to launch nukes at the US.

Um...

Er...

It's at this point that you will either be fine with going along with the movie, or want to rip your hair off like a certain celebrity does at the beginning of The Interview, in one of its best bits. If you like your comedies to have much of a coherent plot, or at least make anywhere close to any amount of sense, and/or you are tired of comedies that appeal to the lowest common denominator, then stay very far away from The Interview. Without a serious suspension of disbelief, the storytelling has more holes than the Berlin Wall.

But stick with it, and even the lazy "idiots on training day" jokes that have been cribbed from a hundred different films and the occasionally cringe-inducing amount of vulgar jokes (although significantly less than a single second of spiritual brother Team America: World Police) are weaved rather cleverly into some sharp commentary.

It's definitely not going to be remembered for being the wittiest movie. There are tons of missed opportunities to tighten up the pacing and message because the filmmakers focus too long on a specific type of parallelism between two characters that is broadcasted repeatedly at the audience. This drags down the second act, where perhaps injecting more situations throughout North Korea could have been ripe for picking and thus made things snappier. No one's performance was really Oscar-worthy, but I also think that, while James Franco can really ham it up well and Kim Jong-un's actor steals the entire film, casting Seth Rogen as the straight man was a mistake as I can't take him seriously when the only two faces he knows how to make are "derp" and "derpier."

But it does pick up towards the end towards a gut busting finale that ties everything together nice, engage your brain cells throughout at least to a somewhat greater degree than something like, say, the steaming pile of horseshit that was Neighbors, and becomes a decidedly average comedy.

As a side note, the reaction that North Korea had to The Interview, in my analysis, probably didn't have all that much to do with its content. Instead, I think that they were worried that any film that made Kim Jong-un look bad when he already has problems really asserting himself as a dictator independent of his generals could really destabilize his rule, especially if DVDs were smuggled in (which is already happening anyway!). In that case, they're probably going to wet themselves when the inevitable sequel gets churned out after milking this controversy for all its worth.

So, anyway, why do I think that this is also the worst movie of 2014? Well, I did laugh plenty of times, and I also more than understood what the filmmakers were trying to say and why the movie had to be the way that it was (why, for instance, they couldn't have just created a fictional dictatorship). But in the end, like so many of Seth Rogen's other comedies, on top of all of the problems I've already mentioned, this was the cinematic equivalent of a potato chip bag. Very flavorful, and with quite a lot of funny stuff going on both outside and inside the movie, but also filled with a lot of air and empty calories. Enjoyable while it lasts, certainly, but in the long run, although it will be remembered for what happened to it, the film itself is also extremely forgettable.

Anyway, after all is said and done, I would rent it online for $4 if you're really curious, or wait to rent the disc when it comes out on Redbox for $1.50 if you're only mildly curious. I probably will buy the "Freedom Edition" when it's deeply discounted. Why?

So that years from now, I can share a really great, OK, and bad potato chip movie, and the even funnier story surrounding it, with my unsuspecting children.

[Nope]

I have been weighing whether to watch this movie or not. Thank you very much for reviewing it.

Netflix actually has some good documentaries on North Korea. Has anyone seen Crossing the Line? It is about an American soldier who defected to North Korea in the sixties.

[rexbeccarox]

I didn't read your post because I really hate spoilers, even small ones. I just want to point out it's currently on NetFlix Instant Watch. I'll join in after I watch it

[Silver]

I watched it, and I quite enjoyed it.

[Kitty Galore]

I have been weighing whether to watch this movie or not. Thank you very much for reviewing it.

Netflix actually has some good documentaries on North Korea. Has anyone seen Crossing the Line? It is about an American soldier who defected to North Korea in the sixties.

I haven't seen that one, I will check it out, my teenage son told me to watch one, I think it was a National Geographic. It was very enlightening... very good.

[vorlon13]

I have been trying to figure out my attraction towards James Franco. Face it, he's kinda goofy looking. Not hairy either, and certainly no linebacker or lumberjack physique.


And then it hit me. He's actually very smart in real life (I dunno about this movie, however). I'm apparently not shallow, I can respect a man for his intellect and thereby find him attractive.


Wow, I'm 58 and I'm starting to mature. Whodda thought ??

[StealthySkeptic]

I didn't read your post because I really hate spoilers, even small ones. I just want to point out it's currently on NetFlix Instant Watch. I'll join in after I watch it

Well, that was a waste of $4 then!

[Nope]

I have been trying to figure out my attraction towards James Franco. Face it, he's kinda goofy looking. Not hairy either, and certainly no linebacker or lumberjack physique.


And then it hit me. He's actually very smart in real life (I dunno about this movie, however). I'm apparently not shallow, I can respect a man for his intellect and thereby find him attractive.


Wow, I'm 58 and I'm starting to mature. Whodda thought ??

Intelligence is its own kind of sexiness

[Tonus]

I have been weighing whether to watch this movie or not.

It's not a classic, but it's not a waste of your viewing time either. It's worth it for Franco's performance, because he's the kind of actor who throws himself into a role like this, and his over-the-top acting job works. In part, it works because the actor who plays Kim Jong-Un is similarly committed to the role and takes it just as seriously as he needs, which is not very seriously at all.

That it became a target for a computer hack and thuggish intimidation campaign seems ridiculous in light of how unserious the movie obviously is.

[Alex K]

He doesn't play a dumb stoner in Zack an Miri make a porno, or Paul. Green Hornet.... Ok ok, it's not very good.