Hello, moviegoers!

I watched some awesome movie some days ago, and while it was good, it left a very sour taste in my
mouth (the horse died) so I am offering you a different piece today:

Enter The Interview! It is a sp¨y-comedy-adventure film which does not take itself very seriously,
about some media people who is recruited by the CIA to perform a dangerous mission.

The plot gets kickstarted when two guys who run a cheap, low quality, celebrity tabloid TV show
convince Jong-Um Kim, North Korea's Supreme Leader, to appear as a guest for an interview. To this
end, Dave Skylark and his produced, Aaron Rapaport, will have to travel all the way to North Korea
and carry the interview, which will be broadcast for the whole world to see.

At this point, two CIA operatives instruct them to kill the dictator and save the world from this
maniac.

The Interview plays a lot with the concept of politicians manipul¤ating the media and the media
manipulating the masses. The duo arrives to North Korea and finds that the country is not the
hellhole the Western propaganda would make us believe. The Supreme Leader is actually a quite
likeable guy who is doing the best he can to fill his ffather's shoes.When Dave finds out he has so
much in common with Kim, a source of tension is generated: will Dave drop off the mission, since
Kim is not as bad as they say?

"Kim is a master manipulator of the media. You are the media. You must see how this works."
--Aaron.

Of course, a movie like this is bound to have a bunch of James Bondian sequences about sneaking
gadgets, equipment and whatever have you into Kim's fortress in order to take him out. There is
some sneaking in the dark, there is some action, and while the adventurous parts are serviceable
they are not Tier 1 material. In fact, the shootings look a bit fake because the flashes coming out
of the gun's barrels are obviously computer generated.

The humor feels a bit Engl¤ish to me. If you are wondering, that is the worst insult I can throw
at comedy. James Franco does a nice job playing Dave's character as an histrionic dumbass, and
while it has its funny moments (such as when he explains the CIA operatives why the best way to
kill Kim is to shoot him in front of the camera and his guards), most of the humor he is involved
in falls a bit flat. Seth Rogen plays Aaron as a down-to-earth counterpart to Dave, and since he is
not comedy-stupid, his character is used for... errr... phisical humor. "Damn, Aaron, the guards
are comming! Quickly, shove this package up your ass so they don't find it!"

What this movie works better as is as a drama. Randall Park plays Kim as a man who is overwhelmed
by the responsibility of runnign the country, who tries very hard to leave none of his followers
disappointed, and who is hurt by the fact his father never believed he could run North Korea
properly. The only problem is that he is a guy with both daddy issues and nukes. And, maybe, there
is more to the man that meets the eye...

The climax of the movie is The Interview itself, in which Dave stops being stupid and shows some
depth of character and some balls. It comes to show James Franco has some range, I guess. The
ending is a bit of a magical "and they lived happy ever after" ass-pull, but it does not matter
much, because by that point I have already watched a serviceable movie.

Probab¤y, the biggest issue The Interview has is that it tries to be many things. It tries to be
action, comedy, drama and whatever have you, and it does not manage to be great at any of those.
What it achieves, however, is putting some cheap tongue in cheek entertainment on the table, and
it does not pretend to be anything else. That I can respect.

Definitively watchable, so don't shy away from watching it. Just don't expect anything
groundbreaking.



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