The Interview (15.)
Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Starring James Franco, Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplin, Randall Duck and Diana Bang. 112 mins
I like to think of myself as the spirit level by which heterosexuality is measured, not to mention the Rubik of square. But if that were ever to change, if I decided that I wanted to lead with the other foot, I hope I would be straight up about it; that when I made my “coming out” film I wouldn't drag in a plot to kill Kim Jung-un to deflect attention. You may expect a Team America-style political satire, but this is just another Rogen/ Franco Bromance that teases audiences about their sexual orientation, and even more intensely than usual.
It starts with Eminem announcing he's gay on a chat show hosted by Dave Skylark (Franco) and saying that his lyrics had been leaving a breadcrumb trail of gayness. Rogen and Franco have being laying quite a trail of that themselves. This all may be just a little game on their part but in The Interview you keep wondering if it wouldn't be much easier to just say anything they have to say rather than have Rogen getting various objects wedged up his backside for comic effect.
Rather embarrassingly, writer/ directors Rogen and Goldberg have managed to grab the world's attention just at the moment they have turned in one of their weakest films. There is some funny stuff here, some very funny stuff. There is also some quite dark, surprisingly violent stuff and even two or three moments of astute political satire. Mostly though it's low brow mugging, with loads of knob, bum, poo, reach around jokes, and for the most part, not especially funny knob, bum, poo, erection, reach around jokes. As a comedy, the main flaw is that Franco's vain, facetious chat show host Skylark is written too stupid, and Franco plays him as a sketch show caricature. He's too thin a creation for audience to invest in and so an sense of jeopardy is lost and comedy loses its urgency. It's like Dr Strangelove made as a Bob Hope vehicle.
Now, no doubt when they were making the Interview they had no inkling that it would, allegedly, cause a massive hack on Sony and provoke a burst of cyberwarfare. But even so, when you are making a film about attempting to assassinate an actual world leader, wouldn't you have a quick tidy up in the expectation that people beyond your normal crowd might be inclined to have a look? Wouldn't you think twice about doing a scene where Franco complains about how bad his crotch smells after sex.
Rather than political satire, the film is an extended roast of Dennis Rodman, the basketball player who is frequent visitor to North Korea and friend of Kim Jong-un.
The film's view of Americans even more insulting than its take on Koreans. In this way it is seeking to deflect any criticism of it being arrogant Western imperialism. But instead it just falls into the Fugly American fallacy that anti-Americanism is based on jealousy. When Skylark says of his critics “They hate us, because they ain't us,” (which Rogen mishears as “They hate us, because they anus”) it is a joke on his shallowness but it works as the film's world view. The western educated President Kim is portrayed as a kind of gangsta rapper, lounging in his ostentatious wealth, throwing hoops, surrounded by laydeez but desperate to have some genuine American friends. (To be fair, it is a view largely backed up by Rodman's reports of their time together.)
The most disturbing thing about the film and its reception is that it suggests that Kim Jong-Un is even less tolerant, and has less of a sense of a humour, than his father who managed to take largely Team America and Die Another Day in his stride. Still, if I was in charge of a nuclear arsenal I'm not sure I would take such mocking in my stride; not when they haven't even had the decency to save up some good jokes for you. By the end you may feel a little sympathy for the Un.
This is the End review
Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.
Starring James Franco, Seth Rogen, Lizzy Caplin, Randall Duck and Diana Bang. 112 mins
I like to think of myself as the spirit level by which heterosexuality is measured, not to mention the Rubik of square. But if that were ever to change, if I decided that I wanted to lead with the other foot, I hope I would be straight up about it; that when I made my “coming out” film I wouldn't drag in a plot to kill Kim Jung-un to deflect attention. You may expect a Team America-style political satire, but this is just another Rogen/ Franco Bromance that teases audiences about their sexual orientation, and even more intensely than usual.
It starts with Eminem announcing he's gay on a chat show hosted by Dave Skylark (Franco) and saying that his lyrics had been leaving a breadcrumb trail of gayness. Rogen and Franco have being laying quite a trail of that themselves. This all may be just a little game on their part but in The Interview you keep wondering if it wouldn't be much easier to just say anything they have to say rather than have Rogen getting various objects wedged up his backside for comic effect.
Rather embarrassingly, writer/ directors Rogen and Goldberg have managed to grab the world's attention just at the moment they have turned in one of their weakest films. There is some funny stuff here, some very funny stuff. There is also some quite dark, surprisingly violent stuff and even two or three moments of astute political satire. Mostly though it's low brow mugging, with loads of knob, bum, poo, reach around jokes, and for the most part, not especially funny knob, bum, poo, erection, reach around jokes. As a comedy, the main flaw is that Franco's vain, facetious chat show host Skylark is written too stupid, and Franco plays him as a sketch show caricature. He's too thin a creation for audience to invest in and so an sense of jeopardy is lost and comedy loses its urgency. It's like Dr Strangelove made as a Bob Hope vehicle.
Now, no doubt when they were making the Interview they had no inkling that it would, allegedly, cause a massive hack on Sony and provoke a burst of cyberwarfare. But even so, when you are making a film about attempting to assassinate an actual world leader, wouldn't you have a quick tidy up in the expectation that people beyond your normal crowd might be inclined to have a look? Wouldn't you think twice about doing a scene where Franco complains about how bad his crotch smells after sex.
Rather than political satire, the film is an extended roast of Dennis Rodman, the basketball player who is frequent visitor to North Korea and friend of Kim Jong-un.
The film's view of Americans even more insulting than its take on Koreans. In this way it is seeking to deflect any criticism of it being arrogant Western imperialism. But instead it just falls into the Fugly American fallacy that anti-Americanism is based on jealousy. When Skylark says of his critics “They hate us, because they ain't us,” (which Rogen mishears as “They hate us, because they anus”) it is a joke on his shallowness but it works as the film's world view. The western educated President Kim is portrayed as a kind of gangsta rapper, lounging in his ostentatious wealth, throwing hoops, surrounded by laydeez but desperate to have some genuine American friends. (To be fair, it is a view largely backed up by Rodman's reports of their time together.)
The most disturbing thing about the film and its reception is that it suggests that Kim Jong-Un is even less tolerant, and has less of a sense of a humour, than his father who managed to take largely Team America and Die Another Day in his stride. Still, if I was in charge of a nuclear arsenal I'm not sure I would take such mocking in my stride; not when they haven't even had the decency to save up some good jokes for you. By the end you may feel a little sympathy for the Un.
This is the End review
