The Scandalous, The Bad, “The Interview”

There were many great and awful movies that were released in 2014, but none were quite as scandalous, even before its release, as “The Interview,” starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, Lizzy Caplan and Randall Park.

“Dave Skylark (James Franco) and producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) run the celebrity tabloid show ‘Skylark Tonight.’ When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission,” says the synopsis by IMDb, but the reviews from most critics tell a more truthful synopsis of the movie.  “Considering all the controversy the movie has sparked, ‘The Interview’ is only a broad comedy with some pretty standard sex, drug, fart and culture clash jokes, along with half-hearted political satire, padding out the running time.” While BuzzFeed film critic Allison Willmore states, “‘The Interview’ has become the most dangerous dumb comedy in the world. And it is dumb, sometimes intentionally (so many butthole gags) and other times in a way that just feels baggily imprecise, like its creators aren’t entirely sure who their jokes are on.” There are many differing reviews on “The Interview,” but it seems as though the most common word used to describe the movie is “dumb.”

Personally, Seth Rogen and James Franco are two actors I thoroughly enjoy, but I could easily do without ever seeing this movie again, let alone for the first time. Sony spent about $75 million dollars on producing and promoting the movie, and, thus far, the movie has only pulled in about $31 million dollars. This in itself shows how unnecessary the movie is, from a business standpoint.

There are several parts of the movie that are rather hilarious, but it really depends on an individual’s sense of humor. For example, the beginning scene kicks off with Dave Skylark interviewing rapper Eminem on his show. Instead of spoiling the hilarity of the scene, let’s just say the humor contained in this scene is extremely crude. This crude humor persists throughout the movie, so proceed with caution because this brand of humor is not fit for everyone. And some of it is just plain tasteless.

Another aspect of “The Interview” that makes the movie pretty awful is Franco’s character. Dave Skylark is ignorant, arrogant and annoying. Between Skylark’s exemplification of American stereotypes and his odd sympathy for Kim Jung-un, not far into the film he becomes unbearable. At times, I wanted to turn off the movie just because of him.

“The Interview” is truly as ridiculous and terrible as people make it out to be. Even the split second of Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing with puppies on “Skylark Tonight” couldn’t make up for the appalling story line and often times heinous humor. By the end of the movie, I, too, felt like a plastic bag.

“The Interview” is currently available on Netflix streaming and the DVD is set to be released on February 17th.

Featured image is from venturebeat.com.