The latest comedy from James Franco, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, riffs on an assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, with the CIA learning of his nuclear building programmes and hiring two talk show journalists to do the job under the facade of an interview.
The Interview has transcended its filmic status to become a worldwide talking point after being temporarily removed from cinemas due to threats from North Korea on distributors Sony, sparking huge furore over artistic freedoms in America. It is arguably the most notorious Hollywood film in decades, if not ever. But is the film actually any good?
The film’s brand of comedy is akin to talk show host Dave Skylark’s (James Franco) brand of interviewing: low-brow, lacking in real wit or intelligence, but watchable and engaging nonetheless. Franco is the film’s main source of comedy; he is an actor of remarkable versatility, whose film career ranges from directing sombre period dramas to starring in ridiculous stoner comedies. He has the ability to play deadly serious or infinitely dim, and Dave Skylark is the latter, an accentuation of the newly emerging modern day personalities that have attained fame through engaging in idle celebrity gossip on television and social media. He is a man that exploits the mass need for insubstantial news that doesn’t hurt their brains or consciences, and is consequently a very inappropriate person for interviewing Kim Jong-Un.
Some of the film’s funniest moments come from Franco’s over-the-top antics, such as riding a tank with Kim Jong-Un whilst discussing Katy Perry and margaritas. Meanwhile, Seth Rogen, who co-directs with collaborator Evan Goldberg, plays a talk show producer who faces a conflict between whether to report real news or indulge needs for celebrity-related nonsense. As per usual, the laughs come from bawdy, sexual humour perhaps lacking in wit but making up for it in charisma and likability. On the whole though, not many of the jokes stay in your mind too long after watching.
The first half of the film is set in the USA, and is littered with cameos from celebrities playing talk show guests. This includes a prominent role early on for Eminem, and just like the outspoken rapper, The Interview is not afraid to offend. In terms of the jokes it makes at North Korea’s expense, Rogen and Goldberg paint the nation in broad strokes, yet importantly, it is not overly one-sided in its outlook. The directors have things to say about America’s recent wartime policy, of seeking change in rival countries through force rather than through the people. Killing Kim Jong-Un, they argue, will not lead to improvements for the country, only a change in leadership to an equally tyrannical figure. The method of poisoning Kim Jong-Un, they eventually realise, will be ineffective; they have to think wider.
Therefore, it is a shame that the film lacks the ambition to sustain these ideas. Just when you think the film is really going to step up its boldness and intelligence with the actual interview, it devolves into a fighting sequence in which the characters behind the scenes bite off each other’s fingers. While this may please and entertain many, one can’t help but wish that the film dug a little deeper into its controversial subject matter towards the climax.
The Interview does have its positives, and is enjoyable enough, although it is ultimately less successful than Rogen and Goldman’s last directorial effort, the riotous This Is the End. However, the question of whether the film is actually good or not is perhaps beside the point, for it has already achieved the attention it desired and more. What has been said about The Interview is vastly more important than what the film itself wanted to say.
6/10
Joseph Rodgers
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