The Interview (2014) (English Language)

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112min

Cast: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Randall Park …and more

Writers: Dan Sterling , Evan Goldberg & Seth Rogen

James Franco and Seth Rogen star as presenter and producer of a typically trashy celebrity tabloid show who are invited to North Korea for an interview with fan of the show and supreme leader Kim Jong-Un, only to be recruited by the CIA to assassinate the brutal dictator in an irreverent black comedy from the makers of This is the End and Pineapple Express.

Firstly let’s quickly address the elephant in the room, the Sony Pictures “hacking/cyber attack” allegedly by North Korea, which led to the withdrawal of the film from cinemas and the capitulation of Sony signified by the cancelling of the movie’s release worldwide.

This may be an unfortunately historic moment in film industry history and may set a disastrous precedent which ushers in an era of “cinematic-terrorism” and censorship that affects what topics studios have the courage to tackle for years to come.

We sincerely hope we are overreacting and this does not happen, particularly due to the fact that the historic movie in question here is so forgettable.

We know by now what to expect from a Rogen/Goldberg and sometimes Franco collaboration, irreverent and outrageous dark comedy mixed with graphic action, The Interview has many of these elements but somehow fails on every level to entertain as some of their previous work might have.

James Franco’s performance is over-the-top but even with a few killer comedy lines provided by the writers it never threatens to amuse and is ultimately amateurish, Seth Rogen fares slightly better as the straight-man of the comedy duo but apart from a couple of laugh-out-loud bits of physical comedy The Interview is a pedestrian piece of entertainment at best.

The depiction of “North Korean” supreme leader as half manipulative pop-culture geek half gangster rapper with “daddy issues” provides some comedy fodder, and there is some Geo-political satire hidden under the mass of sex jokes but not near enough the merit the hype and to spend your time and money watching The Interview in the cinema, if it is ever officially released in the UK and beyond.

If you really want to see what all the fuss is about you can rent or download The Interview if you have access to a US-based iTunes, Xbox or Google Play account for now, or you can wait until it is inevitably released in the UK at some point in 2015.