Verdict:
The recent political controversy regarding this film might be the only thing to keep it relevant a year from now. The Interview spits Katy Perry references. In fact, it references a song of hers that was charting back in 2010. It also throws a bunch of Lord of the Rings references. “Haters gonna hate” is an actual line uttered in this movie! This movie already feels irrelevant at the time of its release. It’s like a trip to the recent past, not far enough to feel nostalgic.
The Interview is full of low-brow humour and lazy writing. Prepare for plenty of penis, barf and poop jokes, with a layer of boob and gay jokes on top. If they were at least good, it would be acceptable, but while some of the humour works, most of it does not. Sometimes it is not even clear if something is a joke or if the movie just wants to gross you out. You are more likely to laugh at how stupid or suddenly violent something is than at how funny it is. This is a great movie to laugh at rather than with.
The story is that a guy who keeps running a trashy talk show wants to do more serious news and then he and his friend get offered an interview with the leader of North Korea, with the subsequent involvement of the US government, due to the opportunity that provides. It is not a bad idea for a movie, and frankly, seeing it play out was interesting, but of course it plays out in the most stupid way possible.
Seth Rogen is OK, though not particularly funny. I feel like this guy has been doing the same schtick since forever. James Franco is the guy who keeps making ridiculous faces and poses, but he is no Jim Carrey. He is the gravitational centre of all the failed humour in this film. He is however also the more animated of the duo and, therefore, the more entertaining one. Together, these two guys do have good chemistry, so at least there is that. I just can’t tell if the two leads are aware of how bad they are and are leaning into it.
Having said all this, is this movie entertaining? Begrudgingly, I must say yes, it is. I don’t want to give this assault on intelligence any credit, but even though it is dumb, there is something to be said for the entertainment value of laughing at how stupid something is. Some parts in this film did work and the bad parts were bad in an entertaining way. There is also no denying that it is competently shot and has a sensible structure.
Because of this, the Interview is the kind of dumb movie that is good to watch with a bunch of your young friends, after several beers.