Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'The Interview'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Film has always been a hot bed for controversy.  Sometimes it is because a movie offers up too graphic a depiction of sex. Or perhaps it delves into a realm of taboo that leaves us uncomfortable. Or it may simply provide us with a look at religion that sends some people's blood pressure through the roof. Either way, motion pictures can split our opinion in an instant.  

So needless to say, one film received all of our attention a few years back when Sony Pictures pulled it from theaters following an incredible hack of their infrastructure and I remember being anxious to finally see what the fuss was all about when I sat down to watch, The Interview.  Now, since the plot of the film was basically fawned over by every single network, I won't be wasting any time getting into a basic synopsis this go round, instead we need to look at and discuss exactly what on earth made this film so controversial and scary enough to bring about the fallout that Sony suffered.

Now is it a funny comedy? You bet. Is it something extremely different for Seth Rogen and James Franco? Absolutely. But at no point did I see anything that left my jaw dropped in shock because of some earth shattering revelation about North Korea and its reclusive leader.  If anything, since we know so little about the man, the film takes as many liberties that it can when it comes to parodying Kim Jong-Un and his regime and that works out just fine for the viewer and for the movie.   

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​If anything, the only real surprise that I found in the film was the fact that at its core it is a whip smart satire. Not so much at the North Korean regime and its people, but at Americans and our ability to sensationalize everything and it even takes a few stabs at our bravado from a military standpoint. Granted, the stakes are a little higher in this film since Kim Jong-Un is flaunting nukes that could reach our shores (and the irony of how that turned out in real life is not lost on me), but the characters are the key to the satire and all the wild news reporting we see on the airwaves now is embodied by James Franco's portrayal of Dave Skylark.  

But the satire is dead on to say the least and it works quite well for the plot and well, in the end you're left with a solid comedy that holds hope for a better life for North Korea and that goes back to the original concern revolving around this film...what exactly makes this story so controversial?  The answer that I found...is nothing. I'll never understand how this film made an attack on the studio worthwhile with its message of hope and its magnifying glass pointed more so at sensational American media.  

Either way, it's one you should watch for a laugh. You get a fine fish out of water story, some solid performances along the way and quite frankly, you should see it on principle alone. For no film should ever be yanked from theaters for its message or its setting because in the end it is a fictional tale, and if we can no longer tell the difference between reality and fiction, then that's a scarier prospect than any enemy we will ever face.  

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