A film I would have liked to have seen in theaters…
This would have been the 404th film I have seen in theaters. As it is not as easy to see in a theater thanks to hackers, I am giving it the 404 number anyway. Many of us have gotten the dreaded “404: This page could not be found” error. Appropriate for this.
A Talk Show host, and his producer, travel to North Korea to land an interview with Kim Jong-un, Dictator. The CIA enlists them in a plot to assassinate Kim, but things go awry when he tries to charm the two men. They see through his deception and get him to embarrass himself on television in front of the world.
They make an escape from the country and blow up Kim in the process.
I intentionally wrote that as a “straight” summary. All those things happen, but in very funny ways.
James Franco is Dave Skylark, the TV host. He definitely plays this one REALLY silly, but its a Rogen/Franco movie. Business as usual.
Seth Rogen returns as the uptight guy who finds himself in situations he is not prepared for as his counterpart bumbles from place to place. Par for the course. The entire scene pictured above was friggin hilarious though.
Randall Park appears as the bat-shit crazy, Katy Perry loving, Kim Jong-un with daddy issues. A remarkably tame representation compared to Team America where his father was an intergalactic cockroach.
Lizzy Caplan plays the CIA agent used to recruit Rogen and Franco. Other than a few radio scenes where she provides support to the guys, she has nothing much to do.
Diana Bang plays Sook, a North Korean official fed up with the Kims. She is Rogen’s love interest. Well played actually.
This was a rude, crude, gory, and hilarious Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy. If you liked Pineapple Express and This is the end, then you will like this movie. Does it merit all of the controversy surrounding it? Hell No.
I watched this one from the privacy of my home via download, one of the few ways to see it as the major theater chains refuse to show the movie. While technically not seen in a theater, I will give this one a pass and allow it to be the honored 404: This movie could not be found. heh.
As more info comes to light, it appears that North Korea may have had absolutely nothing to do with the hacking of Sony Pictures. Many experts are indicating that it was likely an inside job at Sony. Once the media mentioned that this could be about “The Interview”, the hackers suddenly mentioned that this was the reason for the hack, but not until the media mentioned it first, casting all of this in a new light.
If this was an incident of North Korea trying to kill a movie, they can go fuck themselves.
If this was a matter of inside hackers trying to embarrass Sony Pictures, then they succeeded. They are still douche bags, but it worked.
If this was somehow planned, or at least appropriated, to make that pesky story about the US Government torturing people in the name of FREEDOM disappear from the news cycle, which it has, then we have bigger problems in the USA than worrying about hurting Kim Jong Un’s feelings or the capitulation of artists to threats by tin can dictators.
Skinny: Funny movie if you like silly comedies. Go see it.
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