Kirby, "The Interview"

I felt conflicted before I began watching The Interview. On one hand, I thought that the move from Sony to pull the movie a few days before the release date only to reverse their decision a few days later seemed a bit suspicious to me. Was Sony receiving threats from North Korea, or was this all just a marketing ploy? I guess we will never know for sure. On the other hand, I’m a fan of Seth Rogen and I thought he worked well with James Franco in Pineapple Express. The Interview isn’t a movie about weed, however. It’s a movie about politics, so I was interested to see what kind of statement this movie would make and how it would be executed.

The statement this film makes is that North Korea is a bad, oppressive place to live, and that Kim Jong-Un is a manipulative dictator. This is a pretty big statement for a comedic movie to make, and while it gets this point across, the comedy is lacking. There are a few funny bits in this movie (none that really stick out in my head), but are were no moments that provide viewers with any big laughs. According to Sam Biddle of Gawker, leaked emails from Sony executives described the movie as “unfunny and repetitive.” Unfortunately, I think I have to agree with these Sony executives. The jokes in the film have been overdone and there is nothing comically unique about it. There are also a lot of references to Lord of the Rings in the beginning of the movie, which will certainly fall flat if you have never seen the movie, which I have not.

If this film is to be remembered in years to come, it will not be because of the humor or quality of the movie, but on its controversial subject matter instead. Compared to Rogen’s work in other films, like Pineapple Express for example, this film will leave many viewers wanting something more. If Rogen and Franco are to make another movie, maybe they should stay away from controversial politics, and shift their focus back to weed, where there is humor to be found.

Rating: 2/5