Skip to content
There had been such bad word of mouth for The Interview, in terms of whether it was actually any good, which led me to start watching it expecting one of the worst movie experiences of the year. However, even early moments like Rogen laughing at the word “dong” in Dandong had me giggling. This occured as he heads over to the location for an initial meeting with Kim Jong-un’s representative, Sook-yin Park (Diana Bang), the trip leading to a few interesting shots of China that make you feel like you’d like to go, even though it’s unlikely they actually filmed there. Oh, and Diana Bang’s character’s name clearly contained another double entendre, but The Interview, thankfully, didn’t end up like the intentionally OTT Wayne’s World scene where they’re reading from a Chinese menu, asking “I’ll have the Cream of Sum Yung Gai”.
In discussing interviewing Kim Jong-Un, and likening him to Hitler and Bin Laden, Franco says how the first rule of journalism is giving the public what they want, and Rogen correcting him with, “No, that’s for circuses and demolition derbies”. Franco also adds, “This is the biggest interview since ‘Frosty Nixon'” and “In ten years, Ron Howard will be making a movie out of this!”
Adding in the statement how “The Supreme Leader doesn’t need to pee or poo”, and yes it’s all a bit on the daft side, but it did work for me. However, there are scenes where Franco gets all buddy-buddy with Kim Jong-un, which come off as a little too ridiculous and take away from the comedy, and there are also other times when it starts to drag a little as it goes into “show off” mode with unnecessary slomo pieces, but it picks itself back up from these before too long. And, yes, I’m referred to the leads as the surnames of the actors, but unless you’re watching them in a drama, you’re unlikely to be referring to them in any other way.
With additional cameos from Rob Lowe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Interview is not a film I’d want to watch a second time any time soon, but it’s better than I expected.
If you want to see The Interview in a UK cinema, it was originally due for release on January 30th 2015, but following all the hoo-hah, it’s not yet got a date and may just end up coming out on Blu-ray, DVD and online instead.
The Interview – Official Trailer
Cert: 
Running time: 112 minutes
Year: 2014
Released: TBA
Format: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Panavision)
Rating: 7/10
Directors: Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen
Producers: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and James Weaver
Screenplay: Dan Sterling (based on a story by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Dan Sterling)
Music: Henry Jackman
Cast :
Dave Skylark: James Franco
Aaron Rapaport: Seth Rogen
Agent Lacey: Lizzy Caplan
Kim Jong-un: Randall Park
Sook-yin Park: Diana Bang
Malcolm: Timothy Simons
Agent Botwin: Reese Alexander
Officer Koh: James Yi
Officer Yu: Paul Bae
Cole: Geoff Gustafson
Jackie: Dominique Lalonde
Janet: Anesha Bailey
Jake: Anders Holm
General Jong: Charles Rahi Chun
Himself: Eminem (uncredited)
Himself: Rob Lowe (uncredited)
Himself: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (uncredited)
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.