Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Interview


Here it is. The film that was cancelled by Sony on pain of terrorist threat. The film that made North Korea so angry and caused so much chaos and debate that it was just nuts. This. Is. The Interview.

Here's the thing, I don't have much of a qualm with Sony pulling this from its theaters. Had Obama or the United States government forced Sony to pull the movie, that would have been a different story, I'd be up in arms, talking about freedom of speech and not negotiating with terrorists, I get it.

However, we're talking about a corporation with the responsibility to make sure that people who go and see their movies are safe and enjoy themselves as they do it. Especially since it was their choice, I am willing to give them a little bit of leeway in this circumstance. Agree with me, disagree with me, whatever, let me know in the comments, but for now, I want to talk about the movie as a whole.

The Interview is the story of the host of an entertainment show by the name of David Skylark (played by James Franco) and his producer, Aaron Rapoport (played by Seth Rogen).

These two are considered the joke of the news arena, so much that Aaron is worried that he's wasting his life on a joke like David.

Of course there's always the bromance of James Franco and Seth Rogan so they'll always be friends.

Aaron wants to bring more established people on to the show and when they figure out that Kim Jong Un is a fan of the show, David decides that they should interview Kim Jong Un.

They then get the interview with Kim Jong Un.

But soon after, they are contacted by the CIA and are given the mission to kill Kim Jong Un.

Thus you have your plot. Can you see why North Korea would have a problem over this?

Overall, this movie is a raunchy comedy with a lot of gross humor. Its exactly what you would expect from a film directed by Seth Rogen. If you've seen Pineapple Express, or This is The End, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Its a lot of dick jokes, its a lot of gay jokes, its a lot of jokes about assholes and a lot of gross stuff. And its funny... if that's your kind of humor. I think the movie is funny because of the timing and some of the jokes, but the majority of it is your really raunchy humor, you'll get what you paid for.

To tell the truth, the movie is really, REALLY ridiculous. What did you freaking expect?

James Franco is just the biggest dunce you'll ever see in a comedy film. Its basically the same character he's been playing in all of the movies he does with Seth Rogen. I think in this one he just goes nuts and goes to a level of insanity.

You know the scene in Tropic Thunder when Robert Downey Jr criticizes Ben Stiller about his performance as a mentally handicapped guy, saying you never go full on in a role like that.

I almost have to say the same to James Franco. It makes sense for a toked up dude like he plays in Pineapple Express, This Is The End is an insane "satire" so obviously James Franco isn't going to play exactly himself. This I could maybe say James Franco could go all out, but damn he goes ALL OUT.

There's kind of a fun sequence where David starts hanging out with Kim Jong Un and its funny, it really is funny. There's this comparison between Jong and David that makes them connect to one another and of course this causes conflict with the fact that David is suppose to kill him.

Seth Rogen is your typical reasonable character between the two. Its a bad comparison, but think Lets Be Cops, if you remember from my review of that film, the relationship between those two is your typical buddy cop story, one is reasonable, one is wacky.

The problem I had with that film was that the reasonable one was whiney and annoying. While Rogen is the reasonable one in this case, he's not totally reasonable, he has these wacky moments and yet he is reasonable without being whiney and annoying. I liked Seth Rogen in this movie.

And then you've got the guy who plays Kim Jong Un (Randall Park).

The guy is funny as hell. What an incredible role, there are not too many people who get to say, I got to play Kim Jong Un.

The movie is funny when it tries to play Kim Jong Un off as a relatable sad character, until they scrap that whole idea and say nope, he's fucking nuts.


This movie is just down right ridiculous. Again, you get what you paid for.

Overall, this movie isn't anything that is going to blow your mind. I don't think anybody should have ever hought this movie was going to be something ground breaking. It was just going to be a raunchy provocative comedy about Seth Rogen and James Franco trying to assassinate Kim Jong Un.

If that doesn't sound appealing to you, I don't think this movie is going to blow or change your mind. Chances are you're only going to see this movie for two reasons, you want to see a movie that was so controversial to the United States, or you like Seth Rogen and James Franco.

If you're the former, you might laugh, you might find it a little funny but its not going to be the best comedy you've ever seen.

If you're in the latter category, you'll probably love this film.

That's all I can really say about this film. Its not anything amazing but its a good enough time. As long as you don't think too hard about this, you'll enjoy this film.

There are a lot of bad things to say about this film but I don't think the film ever set out to be amazing, just funny.

Its ridiculous, what the hell did you expect? Its The Interview!

Have you seen The Interview? Its on Netflix, if you wanted to see it and you have Netflix, take an hour and a half and just have some fun with it. After you do that, Comment and Discuss what you think about it below. Also, follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on future reviews and everything above.

I'll leave you with this. The trailer is pretty much a good representation of how the movie goes down. Watch the trailer, see what you think. Enjoy!


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