The Interview (2014), R, ★★★

Rogen and Franco trying to work with the gadgets.

I am not going to say, "Maybe I should review this movie, because I think after all of this silly publicity about North Korea threatening theaters to showcase this film, we all have a right to see any movie we'd like to see." And, we all do have a right to see it but we will get to that later. I have seen so many spoofs of political satire and celebrity journalism that is downright hilarious. Nothing can beat Dr. Strangelove in terms of political satire. And, entertainment journalism is not a topic that is covered often, but, Hollywood has been spoofed and it has been done well and not so well. However, this film has both have them and even though the film is inconsistent of laughs, jokes, political satire, and journalistic humor, it made me laugh just enough to like the movie.

Dave Skylark (James Franco), a host of an entertainment talk show called Skylark Tonight, interviews celebrities regarding controversial matters and topics such as Rob Lowe's haircut. After celebrating their 1,000th show at a party, it is revealed that Kim Jong-Un (Randall Parks), the leader of North Korea, is a fan of the show and wants to do an interview with Skylark. He prompts the producer, Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen), to arrange an interview with Kim. After they both travel to rural China to accept a brief list of instructions for the interview, Dave accepts the interview.

However, there is a second matter where CIA Agent Lacey (Lizzy Caplan) proposes a plan to assassinate Kim Jong-Un by facilitating a coup d'état by using a transdermal strip that will expose Kim to ricin during a handshake. Dave and Aaron are hesitant, but, however, they reluctantly accept to perform the mission. During the arrival to North Korea, a military officer discovers "a strip of gum" and chews on it and Aaron discusses the matter to Lacey and two more are dropped from the UAV and instructs him to retrieve it. The soldier dies from the ricin and kills another officer while dying and hell breaks loose when Kim finds out of the threats.

Kim Jong-Un (Parks) and his soldiers in the shadows.

This movie made me laugh, but, ultimately, made me a little disappointed because the movie plays the material a little safer than usual from a Seth Rogen-James Franco film. They do not push the envelope in many scenes than usual. It is raunchy in some scenes, but, they do not take off well and when they deliver a joke regarding celebrity journalism, politics, Kim Jong-Un, and "controversial" entertainment topics, they all feel scattered. Even in a few scenes, they try too much like they want to spoof it like an Airplane! movie.

Now, on to the controversy. North Korea should calm the hell down. It is only a damn movie! Try to think about how our president or another controversial person is portrayed in another movie from another country. Do you think will threat to terrorize their theaters or their country just for a satirical film about one ruler? It is very pointless and silly. This was the first time that art has been threatened for country and now we cannot even make it from our intelligent minds or hearts and just screen it, because there is too much commotion in the social media nowadays. I tend to stay away from politics as best as I can because it is a sneaky topic. But, social media outlets are one thing as to how the news regarding this movie got out of hand. Sony is another topic. Amy Pascal and Sony should have had the guts in the first place to screen it for just pleasure and entertainment. We have millions of theaters around the U.S. and it is basically impossible to get one plane or several planes attacking theaters. The situation stinks and it is rotten and Sony Studios should have screened in more theatre chains than limited release to show how strong their studio is and how strong we are to screen this movie.

Seth Rogen is fine as the producer and he still is delightful to entertain us with many familiar jokes as possible and also be more complex. I thought that Randall Parks was the scene-stealer as Kim Jong-Un because he was more humanized and not as one-dimensional as we come to expect from the character coming in to the theatre. He was fantastic. The weakness was James Franco. He is a journalistic moron in the beginning with some charisma and humor, but his buffoonery does not match with the scenes in North Korea or with Parks and it lacks and becomes a standard one-dimensional character.

As for the movie as whole, I had fun with the first two-thirds of the movie, but its final act disappointed me as it goes on into an action-filled assassination attempt that seems to want to rush it into the end of the film. They should have just maybe interviewed Kim as a normal and gentler person and then going into a spoof of an angry Kim wanting to go after Rogen and Franco. It becomes a little routine in that section of the film. Despite the third act and the scattered jokes, I was entertained and amused by the movie and again, I laughed just enough with this duo again. It is probably their weakest effort from the team, but, it is enough for a marginal recommendation.

***