No I don’t mean all the hype surrounding it’s global controversy.

In case you have been, as the saying goes, living under a rock..who am I kidding, even people living under rocks have heard this story. A few weeks ago Sony Pictures was hacked, viciously, and manically. The hackers known as Guardians Of Peace began threatening movie houses that screened the “Interview”. Thus causing a major chain reaction, some of the biggest theater corporations (i.e Cinemark, Regal, and so forth) announced they would not be showing the picture. This then caused Sony to pull the picture (making it look like Sony gave in to terrorist demands) from release. After much criticism, including from President Obama, Sony backtracked and decided to release the film after all.

And after a week of following this story very closely-I can now say, with great pleasure, I have seen “The Interview” and it’s great.

“The Interview” does step over it’s boundaries more often than not-and I still can’t boggle my head as to why the hackers would go to no lengths to ensure this movie never be released. (Sure it’s a tad bit offensive) but what satirical comedies aren’t? The film is about much more than just North Korea. The film is also about the CIA obsession with media, how wrong Americans can be, inside jokes towards hot headed celebrities. That being said, the resounding message was clear; Kim Jong-Un is a bad guy. In all fairness, he truly was to begin with. Clearly, Rogen and Goldberg (along with screenwriter Dan Sterling) aren’t making up the facts depicted in this raunchy hard R-rated comedy. They had to have known the risks when making a film about an assassination attempt on North Korea’s supreme leader.

I digress..

Particularly, the script is a trifecta of riffs, lampoons, and parodies of everything from Obesity, to our materialistic cultures obsession with politics. The gags are truly quite funny, and the delivery by lead stars Franco and Rogen make it seem more appealing.

However, my praise goes to in regards to Randall Park, and his dastardly performance as Kim Jong-Un. Park knows how to make an audience tick, and the strong material easily give him something to master. Including a fun gag of Katy Perry’s pop song firework, asking if “margarettes are gay?” and how sometimes he just feels like “a plastic bag, drifting through the wind”. I mean you just wanted to hug the guy, sometimes. This is all played for fun, and it works.

In the end, the film has a dark message rooting beneath it (ironic?) about politics as a whole..whether or not this gets through to the audience, doubtful. I wasn’t seeing this movie for the politics, or the hype. I sincerely saw this movie, because it appealed to me. And while I don’t believe “The Interview” was worth all the hype it received, I’m glad that questions were raised, and we got to see this movie. If the film had never come out, and I had not seen it..would it change me? .. probably not. The truth is we can all live without this movie, I’m just glad we didn’t have too.

B

Directed By: Seth Rogen & Even Goldberg

Rated: R

Runtime: 112 mins

Release Date: December 25th 2014

Studio: Sony Pictures

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