{"id":10755,"date":"2015-02-21T13:28:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-21T18:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10755"},"modified":"2015-02-21T13:28:02","modified_gmt":"2015-02-21T18:28:02","slug":"dvd-interview-the-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=10755","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Interview, The (2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Interview2014_poster_ss\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Weak<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: n\/a<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Sony<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a01 (NTSC)<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 February 17, 2015<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Comedy<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A tabloid talk show host and his bromatic producer are requested by the CIA to kill their plum interview subject, North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 Audio Commentary Track with co-directors Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg\/ Short: “Naked and Afraid” (13:49)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the ridiculous hype and controversies transformed Seth Rogan\u2019s comedy of two bumbling morons \u2018requested\u2019 by the CIA to assassinate North Korea\u2019s Dear Leader #3, Kim Jong-un, into a symbol of free artistic speech \u2013 U.S. audiences flocked to see the released \/ withheld \/ limited release \/ digitally distributed film like some act of large-scale defiance, which must have made Sony giggle for a few days before the reviews emerged – what finally arrives on video is a goofball comedy written from the mindset of a 13 year old kid obsessed with anus jokes and the odor of stale undergarments after a night of booty activities.<\/p>\n

Neither a disaster nor a maligned comedic masterpiece of political satire, The Interview<\/strong> offers a few good laughs, and for its first third, it manages to be marginally entertaining, but it becomes clear that within its nearly 2 hour running time neither star \/ co-director \/ co-writer Rogan, nor co-director \/ co-writer Evan Goldberg, nor co-writer Dan Sterling are interested in offering anything more clever than scenarios designed for a rectal-related punchline.<\/p>\n

In one elaborate sequence, news producer Aaron Rapaport (Rogan), is confronted by a large tiger while retrieving a ribbed canister containing the two strips of poison needed to kill Dear Leader #3. Sent zippy-fast via drone by the CIA handlers, Rappaport must hide the vessel in the only pocket capable of widening to accommodate such a sturdy vessel \u2013 his ass – to ensure the rapidly advancing North Korean guards don’t discover the CIA’s secret plan.<\/p>\n

Arrested and brought back to the partitioned room shared with\u00a0Dave Skylark (James Franco), Rappaport is strip-searched, but amazingly, the screenwriters don’t have the super-suspicious soldiers bothering with a body cavity search because the sequence needs to end with Rapaport washing the extracted canister, removing the contents, and have Skylark hold up the container and react with awe at his colleague’s stamina, adding \u2018You should see a proctologist when we get back.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sequence that\u2019s indicative of the filler material which bloats what should\u2019ve been a 95 min. sophomoric comedy, and delays the inevitable conclusion where the two buddies, deeply involved in a bromance, finally partake in snuffing out the Dear Leader\u2026 which they actually don\u2019t<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The ire of building a comedy in which a sitting despotic leader is assassinated onscreen is pretty brazen \u2013 it\u2019s not outrageous to suggest had the film\u2019s focus been the murder of a U.S. President, there would\u2019ve been high outrage on this side of the pond. Wait a minute: that already happened<\/em> in the faux documentary Death of a President<\/strong><\/a> (2006), and was almost<\/em> followed at the beginning of the WWII propaganda film Man Hunt<\/strong><\/a> (1941), in which a big game hunter sneaks into Nazi Germany and attempts to sniper-shoot Adolph Hitler.<\/p>\n

When Kim is killed, it\u2019s not by the bromantic duo as many outraged \/ misinformed media reports seemed to state, but the North Korean love interest Sook (Diana Bang), who launches the deadly artillery from a Stalin-era tank that strikes Kim\u2019s helicopter, and puts the film into brief slo-mo as the leader is incinerated. The details may have been toned down in the final edit, but it’s clear he\u2019s being BBQ\u2019d before the helicopter crashes and burns.<\/p>\n

Now, one could argue it\u2019s a scene that generates more sympathy for Kim: the character with the most depth and the most compelling figure is Kim<\/em>, as played by Randall Park. He\u2019s a sympathetic figure because he\u2019s comprised of three parts \u2013 a lonely boy who likes marguaritas and Katy Perry\u2019s \u201cFirework\u201d; a power hungry leader as manipulative as his old, domineering dad; and a confused soul who\u2019d probably be happier being himself somewhere in a tony European ski town. Seeing the lone character that\u2019s not an idiot within an idiotic film die slowly is marginally sad, but it\u2019s not the film\u2019s most grating, offensive element.<\/p>\n

The Interview<\/strong>\u2019s flaws lie in its design to remain a container for ass, cum, booty, and bromance jokes, and allowing Franco to play Skylark as a one-note character we wish would get shot by the film\u2019s midpoint. Maybe not dead, but incapacitated, so there\u2019s less dialogue and broad had gestures (which are part of the TV host’s presentation schtick). While Skylark bromatically woos Kim, Rapaport romantically woos Sook, and the culmination from those relationships are some surprisingly gory moments where a Kim guard has his head blown off, and Rapaport has two fingers chomped off by a defensive TV technician. It\u2019s as though Rogan & Co. were trying to layer the film with Tarantino shocks, but they\u2019re ultimately part of the film\u2019s unstable DNA that makes it neither full satire, barely political commentary, nor an accessible comedy for the bonehead class.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bloated, indulgent, frat joke\u00a0that oddly benefits from great production values \u2013 beautiful sets, sharp editing, a lovely End Title sequence, and Brandon Trost\u2019s \u00a0cinematography. This is a gorgeous film with warm earth tones, and if anyone manages to benefit from their involvement with The Interview<\/strong>, it\u2019s the cinematographer, actor Randall Park, and composer Henry Jackman, who wrote an ebullient orchestral score.<\/p>\n

Sony\u2019s DVD includes a director commentary track plus a spoof short, but The Interview<\/strong> is really a film whose value is ephemeral, giving those who experienced it for 112 mins. some boasting cred (‘You saw it?’) until it fades as The Movie that Didn\u2019t Deserve All That Hype, and a footnote to the Great Sony Hacking Scandal of 2014<\/a> that was likely perpetrated by pissed-off, studio employees masquerading as crusading North Korean hackers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2015 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB \u00a0<\/a>— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a>\u00a0— Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the ridiculous hype and controversies transformed Seth Rogan\u2019s comedy of two bumbling morons \u2018requested\u2019 by the CIA to assassinate North Korea\u2019s Dear Leader #3, Kim Jong-un, into a symbol of free artistic speech, what finally arrives on video…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3412,939,1283,3414,1086,3411,3410,1081,3413,3409],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2Nt","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10755"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10867,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10755\/revisions\/10867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}