The Interview

"Haters gonna hate, and ain'ters gonna ain't!"

Dave Skylark (Franco) is the popular host of the show Skylark Tonight where he interviews celebrities to uncover personal information and gossip.  The show's producer is Aaron Rapaport (Rogen), who longs to be involved in serious news, and is also Dave's best friend.  After celebrating 1,000 episodes they learn that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (Park) is a big fan of the show and they decide to setup an interview.

Aaron is contacted by Sook Yung Park (Bang), a North Korean propagandist, with the terms of the interview.  Aaron and Dave are also contacted by FBI agents Lacey (Caplan) and Botwin (Alexander), who propose that they assassinate Kim Jong Un.  In North Korea, Dave bonds with Kim Jong Un and has second thoughts about the plan, while Aaron falls for Sook.  Can they get the perfect interview (and prove that they can do serious journalism) and get out of North Korea with their lives?


I was not planning to watch this film.  Even after all of the controversy and Sony pulling it from theaters, I was mildly curious but didn't make plans to see the film.  Seth Rogen is funny, and I enjoy some of his work, but everything he writes is crass and littered with profanity.  And while James Franco is a decent actor, I have absolutely no respect for the man.  But when Netflix added it to Instant Streaming, my curiosity won out and gave the film a chance.

The film has an interesting premise: what happens if a journalist is forced to kill an interview subject?  Rogen and Evan Goldberg are a good writing team, and have had success on previous films; this is their second directorial project (after 2013's This Is the End).  They are funny, but I don't tend to enjoy their films because they take scenes to an extreme (usually gross humor and excessive language).  This film fits squarely in their wheelhouse.  It is funny and has a talented cast, but takes things too far.  It is a controversial subject, but doesn't do enough what they had.  Franco and Rogen have great chemistry (and have worked together numerous times due to that chemistry) and play off each other well.  Lizzy Caplan is good, as usual.  Diana Bang was funny as well, and I look forward to seeing her in future films.

An ok film, that doesn't fit the hype it received.

The Interview (2014) 112 minutes
Rating: R for pervasive language, crude and sexual humor, nudity, some drug use and bloody violence
Director: Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen
Starring: James Franco as Dave Skylark
Seth Rogen as Aaron Rapaport
Lizzy Caplan as Agent Lacey
Randall Park as Kim Jong Un
Diana Bang as Sook Yung Park
Timothy Simons as Malcolm
Reese Alexander as Agent Botwin
James Yi as Officer Koh
Paul Bae as Officer Yu