Movie Review: ‘The Interview’ isn’t an important film

Penned by The Daily Show veteran Dan Sterling, The Interview has all the right ingredients to be a live-action brother to Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s brilliant Team America: World Police.

There’s a devilishly dangerous plot involving the assassination of a world leader by two bumbling idiots. There’s a capable supporting cast who can get chuckles from the blandest lines. But for all the hub-bub, all the press, all the politicians waxing “America/Free Speech” about the reaction North Korea had over this film, The Interview is a stupidly safe missed opportunity.

Instead of pushing buttons and being a no-holds barred tongue-lashing, we get a lazy Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen movie with unmemorable montages of excess. There are over-the-top party sequences, similar to the ones in Neighbors and This is the End, full of drug use, nudity and champagne being popped all over people. There are stale references to Katy Perry and unfunny plot choices—Kim Jong-Un never going to the bathroom, being one of them.

The Interview is an eighth grader’s dream.

The film starts strong as a satire about the media. Franco is the perfect choice for talk show host David Skylark, and you can tell he’s the only one having fun. Sure, Franco’s participation in anything these days might merit a roll of the eyes, but Rogen could have learned a little something from his partner’s enthusiasm. Rogen is the always-affable teddy bear who sounds like a stuttering quarterback when he laughs (hut, hut, hut, hut). Yet, he doesn’t bring anything to his role as Skylark’s producer.

I’m all for the discussion on how companies, countries and theater chains can’t decide to censor a film due to threats. You, as an American, should be able to see this film, and I wouldn’t disagree with your sentiment. I get the importance of those points. I can see why North Korea might have issues with it, too, but by the time Kim Jong-Un is assassinated, the smartest viewers have either fallen asleep or lost interest.

Important films tackle issues with equal doses of gravitas and humor. They challenge viewers’ beliefs. When I talk important films, I’m thinking of Network or 2014’s underrated one-two punch of Under the Skin and Nightcrawler. Those are the films that make you reconsider whatever is going on in your noggin.

If The Interview were an earthquake, it would barely register on the Richter Scale. It doesn’t say anything meaningful about media or politics. No, The Interview is just another Seth Rogen comedy.

The only important aspect of The Interview is the manner in which it was finally released, which points to a new trend of major film studios releasing future big-budget productions directly to the consumer through avenues such as YouTube and GooglePlay. Soon, the next great film will be available for $6 on your PlayStation 4. Cinemas will close because you won’t have a reason to go.

The revolution in movie consumption will be as lazily written as the movie that started it. Raise a glass to upcoming decades of safe, watered down movies at the cinema—comic-book flicks, feel-good biopics and whatever else doesn’t ask you to think.