Aaron Rapaport: Seth Rogen
Kim Jong-un: Randall Park
Sook: Diana Bang
Agent Lacey: Lizzy Caplan
Columbia Pictures presents a
film directed by Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen. Written by Dan Sterling and
Seth Rogen & Even Goldberg. Running time: 112 min. Rated R (for pervasive
language, crude and sexual humor, nudity, some drug use and bloody violence).
I’ll admit that I’ve found
the story surrounding the release of the new Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy
“The Interview” to be one of the most interesting news stories of the year. For
those of you who have been living under a rock for the past month, the film’s
distribution studio, Sony Pictures, was hacked in late November. Soon sensitive
information was leaked to the Internet, including corporate communications and downloadable
copies of five of Sony’s big holiday movies. A group calling themselves the GOP
(Guardians of Peace)—a curious set of initials considering they were already
taken by a well-known political party—claiming responsibility and demanding the
cancellation of the planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview” because of
its depiction of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. It was
eventually confirmed by the CIA that they felt North Korea was responsible for
the hack. More Sony secrets were released to news organizations and violence
was threatened at exhibitor venues that chose to screen the movie on Christmas
Day. Several major distributors decided not to screen the film and Sony
announced that the Christmas Day opening would be canceled with no other plans
to distribute the film. There was an outcry—my own included—that expressed how
this development was allowing foreign elements to control our freedom of speech
in the U.S. After being virtually scolded by President Obama, Sony announced
new plans to release the movie as originally scheduled on Christmas Day to select
independent exhibitors and through select video on demand outlets.
So, after all that we get
“The Interview”, a rather disappointing comedy about a talk show host and his
producer who are asked by the CIA to aid them in assassinating the North Korean
leader after they land an exclusive interview with Jong-un because he’s a fan
of their show. It isn’t a terrible movie, but it may be a terrible comedy. The
entire film is too relaxed to deliver big laughs, while the material all but
demands a parade of knee-slappers. I admire what Rogen and his writing and
directing partner, Evan Goldberg, are trying to do here, but it doesn’t work.
James Franco plays Dave
Skylark, a talk-show host who deals in celebrity exposé with an interview
format that sees celebrities revealing surprising secrets about themselves. For
example, Rob Lowe appears in an episode where he reveals that he is really
bald. Eminem plays himself in a segment where he reveals that he’s gay. It’s
actually a brilliant turn by the rapper in self-deprecating humor.
Unfortunately, the movie provides no good reason for these stars to reveal such
secrets for the overly superficial Skylark. Franco’s performance as Skylark is
far too broad. While Franco plays vapid pretty well, it is wrong for this story
where some credibility is necessary for his character to be taken even the
slightest bit seriously, even as marginally as he’s allowed due to his
reputation. Nobody—including a deluded dictator or the most superficial
celebrity—would give this guy the time of day.
Rogen’s Aaron Rapaport—Skylark’s
producer—is the more reasonable of the two. He’s feeling like a sell-out for
producing a show that is the journalistic equivalent to Jerry Springer for
celebs when he originally had aspirations to be an important news producer.
When he learns that Jong-un is a fan of the show, he sees his opportunity to
report something with journalistic integrity. Aaron is more the put upon and
than the one who is making the mistakes in this comedy, since he’s essentially
Skylark’s babysitter. Rogen plays anxiety well, and fits much better into his
role than Franco.
No sooner do they announce
their special interview to their viewers than the CIA comes knocking. Lizzy
Caplan is fairly wasted in the role of the CIA agent in charge of the
operation. She’s given little to do other than provide someone to send Franco
into a sexual/power frenzy. Rogen gives himself a much better sexual foil in
Diana Bang as the North Korean PR liaison who sets the interview up for the
clueless Americans.
Perhaps the most impressive
move made by Rogen is the casting of Randall Park as Jong-un. Park plays the dictator
not as a ruthless tyrant but as a charming and sensitive manipulator. He’s very
soft spoken, until someone makes him mad. Park avoids the temptation to turn
him into a childish tantrum thrower in these moments. Instead his head really
gets in the game and he seems a force with which to be reckoned with more power
at his fingertips than such a sensitive person should have. It’s almost as if
he exists in an entirely different movie than Rogen and Franco.
Rogen and Goldberg have enjoyed
some great success teaming together in the past with their breakout screenplay
“Superbad” and with Franco in the stoner action comedy “Pineapple Express” and
the self-deprecating rapture flick “This Is the End”. With “The Interview” they
seem to have broken some of their own rules to success. They’re better when
they keep the perspective that they are not important people, even when others
might think they are.
They’ve also misread their
comedic success in these stoner/drug comedies as something that can work on a
broader scale. “The Interview” is very broad material. Rogen and Goldberg
approach it as if they’re passing a bong around the circle. It’s not a problem
if the hits don’t come at a rapid pace, it’ll get there eventually. Well, in a
comedy with material this broad, timing is everything. It has to hit the
audience at a breakneck pace or we begin to wonder just what the point of all
this is. If it’s political satire, then why isn’t it more political? If it’s
another dig on their own undeserved fame as a couple of drug addled kids just
having a good time, why place themselves in the middle of such caustic world
politics material? Whatever it is, the material is too outlandish for the laid
back delivery they give it. All the while, Franco’s performance is far too
broad for that same laid back direction. The film is as much of a mess as
Sony’s own handling of its controversial release.
Warning! Red band trailer contains adult language.
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