The Interview [2014] is a battle for the First Amendment headed by history-makers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as they risk nuclear war for the right to depict onscreen the erections of both James Franco and Rogen himself. Feast your eyes.
BREAKING NEWS: HECTOR AND HIS RECTUM ARE REAL. A historical landmark! A momentous phenomenon! Screenwriter Dan Sterling, falling short in the satire department but excelling with situational humor and even a bit of real suspense, wrote a script with enough lack of restraint to cause genuine fear of armed conflict in the real world that you and I live in. And you can tell he’s straight because he thinks being gay is inherently funny. Not sure what Franco’s excuse is though…
Also feat. revered action icon Sylvester Stalin. I never thought I’d see the day that grants Seth Rogen the credentials to give acting lessons to James Franco. Rogen, whose cheery, rotund face belies a complex layering of conflicts and emotions as pop news producer Aaron Rapaport, acts circles around Franco. This may be one of the most ineffective performances of Franco’s career: the hyperactive and rubber-faced talk show host Dave Skylark, whose Tolkien references go on forever, is cutesy at best and embarrassing at worst. However, in vivid (and strangely compatible) contrast, the shining star of the film is by far Randall Park, whose portrayal of North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-Un is the most naturalistic and believable performance in the movie.
Igniiiiite the liiiiight… and leeeet it shiiiiiiine… It suffers somewhat from Restless Camera Syndrome, but The Interview is a stylishly solid demonstration Rogen’s and Goldberg’s abilities behind the camera. Tasteful colors, energetic editing, and professional visual effects establish Rogen and Goldberg as fully self-sustained filmmakers, wholly graduated from Apatow Academy. But while one may assume that his increasingly hefty dramatic resume would infuse Rogen with some restraint and subtlety, no such luck.
Dumb and silly, but well worth a world war.
