Has any film ever
received more free
publicity than this one?
Just in case you've been
living in bin Laden's old
cave, I'll tell you that
the plot centers on an
interviewer who normally
specializes in celebrity
gossip ("A video in which
Matthew McConaughey seems
to be fucking a goat? Get
me that goat!"), but who
somehow lands a live
face-to-face with the
reclusive Kim Jung-un.
This is a major
international event, of
course, so the CIA knows
of it and opts to use it
as an opportunity to
assassinate the North
Korean strongman. The spy
agency recruits
interviewer Dave Skylark
(James Franco) and his
producer (Seth Rogen) to
pull off the hit.
The North Koreans
actually agreed to the
interview because they
figured that Skylark was
the one major interviewer
whose brainpower was so
limited that he would be
an easy target for their
propaganda. Skylark and
Kim spend an entire day
together, shooting hoops,
doing drugs, having sex
with Kim's comfort women,
and bonding over their
daddy issues. Skylark is
so taken by the Supreme
Leader that he decides the
he will call off the
assassination and simply
do the scripted interview
mandated by the North
Korean spin doctors.
Unfortunately, Kim slips
up in a pre-interview
party so badly that even
the dim-witted Skylark can
see he is batshit insane.
Skylark realizes that he
must not only abet the
assassination, but must
also humiliate the
dictator by going off the
script during the
interview.
The film walks an uneasy
balance between silly,
scatological comedy and
"other," meaning that it
also dabbles in bromance,
serious political
commentary, and violent
action. I didn't get much
pleasure from the "other,"
but I enjoyed the
occasional inspiration in
the lowbrow comedy, which
is mostly inspired by the
sheer stupidity of the
Skylark character, as
played with hyperbolic
gusto by the ubiquitous
Franco, as he interacts
with the mad Kim, played
with smarmy relish by
Randall Park. Oh, sure,
co-author and co-director
Seth Rogen is not Sacha
Baron Cohen, so you will
not find the film to be
very impressive if you
insist on evaluating it as
a would-be scathing
satire, but you should
enjoy it if, like me, you
watch it for some cheap,
dumb laughs.
The last twenty minutes
(or so) of the movie are
essentially plot-driven
and humorless, and the
conclusion probably tries
for greater depth than the
authors could muster, but
by that time I had laughed
out loud several times, so
it didn't matter so much
that the film failed at
being profound, because it
had already succeeded at
being profane.
There is nudity from the
guy who plays Kim Jong-un,
as well as from these random North
Korean floozies.
