Seth Rogen and James Franco forget to bring the laughs in the lame and lowbrow The Interview
SETH Rogen’s The Interview proves that free speech and the North Korea controversy don’t count for much when a comedy forgets to be funny.
Leigh Paatsch
Don't miss out on the headlines from Leigh Paatsch. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Interview (MA15+)
Directors: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Starring: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Randall Park, Diana Bang.
Rating: *1/2
A Korea opportunity missed
Here comes the controversial flick that recently got yanked from a wide US release because the North Koreans went totally bunched-undies over its audacious premise.
The studio backing The Interview got all jittery juggling such a hot potato of a movie, which presented a fictional assassination attempt upon notorious NK despot Kim Jong-un as the stuff of goofy giggles.
Once on the back foot from the major diplomatic incident heading their way, writer-directors Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen quite rightly played the freedom-of-speech card to their defensive advantage.
However, it turns out the pair were having a lend of all us by badging their work as high political satire.
The Interview is, at best, a lamely lowbrow affair, so excited by the attention-grabbing naughtiness of its plot that it keeps forgetting its absolute obligation as a comedy: to keep the laughs coming at all times.
James Franco stars as Dave Skylark, a lightweight TV host passing off celeb gossip as current affairs. Somehow, a heavyweight world exclusive lands in his lap.
Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) is a huge fan of Skylark, and invites him over to North Korea for a one-on-one propaganda puff piece.
It is left to Skylark’s long-suffering producer Aaron (Rogen) to sort out all the complicated logistics, which are soon further compromised by some sudden interest from the CIA.
Once on the ground in the NK capital of Pyongyang, the bumbling heroes are expected to carrying out a covert fatal poisoning of the deluded ‘Supreme Leader.’ Which, of course, they do their very best to balls-up at every opportunity.
It cannot be denied there are a handful of brassy breakout moments in play here. Particularly deep inside the final act, when a rampaging Kim has a trigger fingering hovering over his nukes.
However, the impact of scenes such as these is dulled by a lot of lazy and infantile filler that should have hit the cutting-room floor. Franco is a black hole of unfunniness all the way through, scuppering some fair work from Rogen and Park.
Kind of embarrassing to think the world almost stopped revolving over this.
Originally published as Seth Rogen and James Franco forget to bring the laughs in the lame and lowbrow The Interview
Timely take on Munich Olympics terrorist crisis
The edge-of-your-seat factual drama September 5 takes viewers behind the scenes in one of the Olympic Games’ darkest hours with a message that still resonates today.
Companion’s a terrifically twisting thriller best seen spoiler-free
Companion is the kind of original and inventive thriller that comes around all too rarely – but the top-level twists hit hardest by going in spoiler-free, writes Leigh Paatsch.