The Interview takes comedy to a weird and wacky place

In the unlikely event that Sony had actually planned the hacking story as a big publicity stunt, it worked like a charm on me and apparently the thousands of other VOD movie viewers, who had to take a look at what was causing all the excitement.

Seth Rogen and Co-Director Evan Goldberg could not have asked for a better publicity vehicle when Sony yanked the picture from a large-scale Christmas day opening, in response to North Korea's extreme (and partially successful) attempt at keeping Kim Jong-Un safe from comedic assassination.  While Rogen is not generally my go-to movie motivator, I was curious as all get-out if The Interview lived up to the brouhaha.

As a comedy, it certainly hits its mark in the weird-is-funny category and not just in its far fetched premise. Rogen plays Aaron Rapaport, tabloid TV producer to excitable talk-show host Dave Skylark (James Franco). Franco plays Skylark in a hilarious no-holds-bar approach to anything for the "dirt". Rogen is a great straight-man to Franco's goofy take on talk shows' earnest superficiality while interviewing celebrities.

Dave and Aaron can barely contain themselves when Dave gets the scoop on Eminem being gay and Rob Lowe's baldness confession. But Aaron longs for a show with more news heft, particularly after a run in with a smarmy 60 Minutes producer colleague, who gets his superior on at Aaron's expense.

In a twist of fate, Aaron scores an invitation and an interview with Kim Jong-Un, who is a fan of the cheesy Skylark show.  It all seems too good to be true for the talk show duo, until CIA agent Lacey (Lizzy Caplan) shows up at their door with the directive that while getting the exclusive in Pyongyang, they also assassinate the Supreme Leader.  From here, hijinks ensue as they venture out where few Westerners have gone before.

Rogen and Franco make a terrific comedy match.  Franco's screw ball antics and hilariously weird expressions play off Rogen's deadpan to humorous effect. I could dismiss the extended potty joke (does the dictator actually "pee and poop?") to find myself laughing at a high-stakes scene involving petrified Rogen (CIA code named Aardvark) taking remote direction from Skylark (Dung Beetle) to retrieve and conceal in his back-end a large capsule containing the assassination weapon. "Take it to the end zone Aardvark" directs Dung Beetle, as hapless Rogen is closed in by the enemy.  Yes, totally juvenile humor that manages to be incredibly funny slapstick.    +

The bro-mance between Skylark and Randall Park's excellent Kim Jung Un, is also a hoot as the dictator confesses his masculine insecurities involving Margaritas and Katy Perry, while playing basketball and showing off his recreation military tank. It's bits like this, where The Interview nails the humor with the all to possible love-hate relationship that we suspect Kim Jong-Un and his cronies might have with America and its popular culture.

Screenplay: Dan Sterling