For as long as I can remember I've spent Christmas with family and friends, eaten a large meal consisting of some sort of glazed meat with the best mashed potatoes I'll ever eat, and then, after everything is over, I see a movie. Some years it's with family. Some with friends. Some with significant others. Whatever the case, the movie theater is a big part of my Christmas (that, and watching A Christmas Story on TBS on loop for nearly 24 hours). This year there were slim pickins. Into The Woods never really drew my interest as I'm not overtly fond of musicals and I'm quite unfamiliar with the source material. Unbroken looked like a movie trying too hard to win our Christmas hearts and Academy votes. Big Eyes looked interesting enough, but not enough for Christmas night. And The Gambler just didn't feel right. So, it was always going to be The Interview. Here's why: because I knew it was going to make me laugh.
Surrounded in (unnecessary and certainly unwarranted) controversy, The Interview has been the topic of discussion for several weeks now. Almost entirely thanks to social media this movie has gotten so much press that half the people who were semi-interested lost all care in the film due to it's overexposure and the people who weren't interested in it are now gung-ho to see it due to the fact that it was going to be pulled from theaters and our artistic freedoms were to be taken away. ('Merica!) Now, it's about giving a large middle finger to North Korea that most people chose this film to be the one they watched on Christmas. After all of the bullshit surrounding the film, there's almost no way to accurately critique the film for what it is-- a mindless comedy. All of the reviews are going to be surrounded with the inevitable discussion of what the big deal was for North Korea to be offended by the film-- or whether or not they had a reason to almost entirely erase the film. It's going to be difficult for the average viewer to take the film for what it actually set out to be in the first place-- a funny movie with nothing substantial to say.
Let's take a quick look back at the film history of Seth Rogen shall we? Let's see, there's The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Pineapple Express, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Funny People, The Green Hornet, The Guilt Trip, This Is The End and Neighbors are the most notable. What do you notice about this list of films? Could it possibly be that none of them have any social or cultural agenda whatsoever? Could it be that most of them are a collection of the same dick jokes over and over again wrapped around a different plot and cast? Could it be that Seth Rogen has literally no other intention with his film choices than to make this viewers laugh??? That's the one. Nothing here has any other motive than to be funny. There wasn't recently this idea that Rogen had to make a statement or commentary of the culture of North Korea. He didn't set out to make an "important" film that would change anyone's views on the country or paint it in a different light (my kind, yet slightly racist grandmother watching a TV trailer of Annie and asking "does anyone understand what the little black girl is saying?" has more cultural relevance than The Interview does). He set out to make a film of dick jokes with a new premise. Take it for what it is, please.
The film revolves around Dave Skylark (James Franco), a celebrity talk show host and his producer Aaron (Rogen) getting the interview of a lifetime-- North Korean President Kim Jong-Un. The CIA then recruits the two idiots to kill Un during the interview. In between all of this is a cavalcade of dick jokes (which somehow still manage to be funny when coming from Franco and Rogen, shockingly). That's it. There's nothing more to it. Before all of the controversy, when I watched the preview it didn't look outstanding, but I knew the track record of the two stars and knew that even if it wasn't their best outing, it was still going to make me laugh. And it did.
What's so strange here is that Rogen is actually the most reserved here. He did have writing and directing credits to go with the film, so he might've just decided to step back and let others take the comedic reigns for a change. But, it's Franco that really surprised me. I've got a love/hate thing going on with Franco. Do I believe he thinks he's God's gift to film even though he isn't? Yes. Do I think he's funny when he's not working with a script? No. I mean, anyone who needs convincing that the dude isn't that funny only needs to watch his roast. When he goes last, firing back at everyone else, it's borderline sad. However, when he's in a film with all of his friends, he couldn't be funnier. He was brilliant in Pineapple Express and hilarious in This Is The End. And, he's on point nearly the entire film of The Interview. He's almost a parody of himself. It's great. But, it's Randall Park as the Korean dictator that really steals the show. He's onscreen a good quantity of the film and he's so funny. It's beautiful to think of the real Kim Jong-Un playing basketball and drinking margaritas and jamming out to Katy Perry. Is it a big cultural and social observation of Un as a dictator? Hell no! It's just a funny juxtaposition. It'd be like watching Hitler play left tackle for the Raiders or Fidel Castro having a tea party in a dress. It doesn't mean anything, it's just a funny image. They've essentially taken someone "important" and feared and humanized them to a point that goes beyond farce. Like Kim Jong-Il singing "I'm So Ronery" (but even that movie had something to say.)
Had none of the instances surrounding The Interview ever occurred, it would be viewed like any other Seth Rogen/James Franco film. No one would have any expectations of it other than getting a few good laughs. That's all it provides. If you think it's a necessity to see the film simply to exercise your right as an American, then don't expect much. Don't expect the film to mirror the controversy surrounding it. Don't expect to watch some subliminally implanted anti-North Korean propaganda film. See it plainly to watch a funny movie and get some laughs and entertainment. This is what Seth Rogen and James Franco are best at.
B+
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