The Interview

The Interview

The interview is difficult on several levels as there are above the film’s and its creation any number of questions that are raised and have been discussed in the public sphere the cyber-attack on Sony theater, artistic fire turning on and off, animosities and critiques. So, all of them should be addressed in order to complete the sketch of the film and its repercussions on the audience.

For instance, it is established that Sony had plans to distribute a humorous skit on the internal affairs of North Korea. It is ‘believed’ that having in mind such a move the country instructed army hackers to breach Sony’s assets threatening violence to any cinema screening The Interview.

Both the leading film-presentation owners and filmmakers gave in and withdrew the movie from circulation and diffusion yet, President Obama and a slew of parties disapproved of this response and blamed Sony of conceding terrorism and not standing tall for a right to free speech which belongs to all Americans. So, it returns to theatres again, now in limited release and with emphasis on VOD. So that is how the story ends duct taped.

Understandably, being an American and endorsing free speech, I decided to spend the next day evening watching the film that had been released a day earlier on search November 24th December, with my wife at Home (the closest theater showing it was about twenty-five miles away) and recovering from the previous day’s overeating and holiday gifts and purchased it at a mere price of $5.99.

It is fair to say that considering the finished version of the movie, which is not very different with Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s last project This is The End, the conflicts that this Hollywood bromance has created over the world seem somewhat ridiculous. This is knowing that in This film focused on rapture and lad-bond religious ridicule.

However, here in The Interview, there’s of course a duck load more Jennifer Lawrence kissing, but there’s another level of wake here as well, featuring random cameo appearances, lots of outrageous comedy sections from Rogen, and lots of things inappropriate for children like Kim Jong Un drinking margaritas and listening to Katy Perry. It doesn’t matter if the comedy is in poor taste as long as you can laugh at (or at least find funny) a joke about metal suppositories going (and being in) places people don’t want them to be.

The premise is, without a doubt, comical in its boldness. The film presents talk show host Dave Skylark (Franco), who is a celebrity in North America, and his producer and best friend Aaron Rapaport(Rogen), in their efforts to secure an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is a fan of Skylark’s show and has invited him to N. Korea for an interview just when N. Korea displays its nuclear capabilities that threaten the United States.

Prior to departing, Skylark and Rapaport receive a phone call from two CIA agents Lizzy Caplan and Reese Alexander who inform them about the possibility of assassinating Kim Jong-un. They hesitantly comply, and then Kotov’s ‘tiger’s den’ goes off on an intense backstory of ‘honey potted’ and ‘honey dicked’ foreplay. Upon reaching their destination, Kim has gone all flirty about Skylark which makes them good friends, sharing tales about their childhoods, their absent fathers, dozens of lost puppies and chewing gum.

While Skylark considers the action of the murder that has been requested, Aaron becomes infatuated with a N. Korean producer Diana Bang who is opposed to Kim’s dictatorship.

As there are abundant people who walk hand-in-hand with certain stereotypes, some do not hesitate to turn ‘the claim of Kim that he doesn´t even need holes through which to urinate or defecate’ jokes that are as immature as possible. And as far as purely exaggerated images go, Kim’s portrayal surely doesn’t come close to Kim Jong-il in Team America: World Police. It is safe to say that All of that still fits into the category of extreme caricaturing.

Beneath the restrained epigraph which states that Kim Jong-un is an excellent brainwasher of his subjects, and that revealing him as a fake is the appropriate strategy instead of direct murder attempts, there is the plot of the movie: buddy comedies with Franco as an exaggerated comedian and caused Rogen as his dull counterpart. Skylark played by Franco is so ridiculously over acted that this type of character would be difficult to look at for most but strange enough is also very charming.

From then, he entertains fantasies about bringing his narrative to the ‘frost nixon’ level which in itself is bizarre enough. He is probably a perfect fit for a movie that isn’t shy to crank things past the normal limit just think of how Rogen’s character protects the N. Korean control room and, in a less than subtle twist, loses his fingers in the style of Frodo. The movie is full of such references to Lord of the Rings.

The Interview certainly lives up to its expectations, unlike the fanfare that accompanied its release. It didn’t even stand a chance to become a tightly focused attack on N. Korean ideology, so much so that I somehow picture Dan Sterling, who along with Rogen and Franco developed the initial premise, searching for a few articles about North Korea and trying to entertain us in a Hollywood style fashion stunned by the culture.

No, this is not an insightful documentary where the viewer learns new truths about geopolitical relations; it’s a movie about North Korea invading the White House, nothing more. Of course, there are funny segments, Drethen and Alok create interesting content, but it is such mindless entertainment as Chuck Norris fighting with the Russians.

They simply used N. Korea because it is the most convenient and has very few admirers. Male actors who primarily sell videos in cinemas may not appeal to that target audience. Rogen and Goldberg’s piece of art was never intended for such ambitious intent, placed around offending the dull to extremes. It will be a dumb movie that some will laugh at, and for others, it might be true. Anything more than that is just hyperbole of catastrophe.

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