The Interview

You have to give Seth Rogen and long-time collaborator Evan Goldberg credit for their guts – the co-writer/directors of This Is The End could have taken the piss out of some fictional despot in their new movie The Interview but they named names by going after North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

And give the pair credit for some brains as well – their satire is pretty inclusive (puff piece American journalism cops almost as much of a serve as North Korean misdeeds) and occasionally incisive, even if it’s overshadowed for the most part by goofy, retrograde gags involving varying degrees of gay panic (which aren’t so much insensitive as immature).

James Franco’s Dave Skylark is a glad-handing hack of a journo who gets a shot of credibility (and big ratings) when he learns that Kim Jong-un is a fan of his talk show. Accompanied by producer Aaron Rapoport (Rogen), he jets off to North Korea for an exclusive, on-camera interview, only to fall under the spell of “master manipulator” Jong-un, a good-natured bro who likes to chug margaritas, groove to Katy Perry and blow shit up with his own private tank. All of which kinda messes with the CIA’s polite request that Skylark and Rapoport assassinate Jong-un while they’re there.

Franco overplays (it’s amusing, though), Rogen underplays (it’s effective), and hitting the sweet spot in between is Randall Park as Kim Jong-un, whose friendly facade sometimes slips to reveal an insecure dude whose daddy issues make him want to reduce his enemies to ash with his nuclear arsenal. And while the fusion of Rogen and Goldberg’s crass/clever comedy with the more lofty ambitions of social and political satire isn’t 100% successful, they’ve still delivered a sly, provocative piece of work that punches above its weight.