by Tom Kando
We saw “The Interview” the first night it was out. It was a full house. We had to use Fandango, which until then I thought was the most useless company in the world...
My purpose today is not to summarize the movie for you, but to discuss the REACTION to it.
I liked the film a lot. I found it extremely funny and politically relevant. So sue me for bad taste.
By now most people know what it’s about: two American tabloid-TV show hosts are hired by the CIA to assassinate North Korea’s baby-faced supreme leader Kim Jong-un. The two men - played by James Franco and Seth Rogen - are bumbling buffoons. I already knew that Rogen is funny, but I was surprised by how funny James Franco can be.
Equally familiar to millions of people by now is the political brouhaha surrounding “The Interview:” Most people know that “somebody” hacked Sony Pictures’ computer systems, presumably backed by “North Korea,” which had threatened revenge if Sony released the film. At first, Sony caved in. Many of us were outraged that a third-rate dictatorship was able to force “America” to self-censor our first amendment. Even President Obama jumped into the fray (“I think Sony made a mistake”). Then, Sony went into reverse and released “The Interview” to a select 330 theaters, plus a variety of Internet platforms. Good. So now that we can see this controversial picture, how is it being received?
As far as the audience is concerned, the film is wildly popular. Ticket sales are record-breaking. Theaters are sold out everywhere. I’m sure that many simple-minded conspiracy buffs have already conjectured that it is not North Korea, but SONY, which is behind this whole hacking plot, in an effort to maximize $$$$. Bah.
Where we saw the movie, the vast majority of the audience was young - Millennials and the like. And they lapped it up. There was roaring laughter from start to finish, and applause at the end.
I asked half a dozen people sitting around me in the theater: Why are you here?
Some of the answers:
“I heard it was a funny movie.”
“I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.” (a Korean American girl)
Answers which were notably ABSENT were statements like: “I came in order to prove to those North Koreans that America is a free country, and that no commie dictator is going to tell me what movies I can or cannot see!” In other words: I did NOT detect political motives, petulance, jingoistic flag waving.
As Allen Johnson writes in the San Francisco Chronicle (December 25), this is an over-the-top and audacious movie. He and many other professional film critics give it a reasonably positive rating - three stars out of four. The website IMDb (Internet Movie Database) gives it a score of 8.3 out of 10 so far, which is quite high. On the other hand, the website Rotten Tomatoes gives “The Interview” a mediocre 50% rating, and many of the user reviews on IMDb are scathing.
Perhaps the key descriptor here is: Polarizing. Negative reviews focus on bad taste: Jokes about erections, genitals that smell like guacamole, devices which must be inserted into the rectum, etc. An “abomination!” exclaims a reviewer. Also, many reviewers find the movie stupid and not funny.
On the positive side, the main descriptor is: Funny.
I agree. It seems to me that the key is the nature of the audience. If you are an older, conservative person with political expectations, this movie will probably disappoint you.
But I respectfully side with the positives. To me, the first twenty minutes of the movie are the funniest. It begins with a choir of little North Korean girls singing an absurd “death to America” chant. Then there is an interview with Eminem who reveals on national television that he is gay. The reaction by the talk show host (Franco) and the rest of the studio is very funny. And there are many other hilarious moments in this caper.
The good news is that so many of us are able to go see and enjoy this film. No panic. The hackers, whoever they are, lose. The panic-mongering media lose. Young Americans are still able to have fun and to laugh at bs. True, there were some armed security guards at the theater, which was somewhat unusual, but this was not too invasive. All in all, fun was had by everyone.
And as to Kim Jong-un and company: Chill. It’s just a movie. Sure, it repeats the familiar litany - the North Koreans are oppressed and starving, the dictatorship spends its scarce resources on nukes, etc. But many of the North Koreans in the movie are shown as simpatico, even Kim himself is a pretty great guy (until his true self surfaces), and at the end there is the hope for democracy and all that. Who knows, this movie may even help accomplish some sort of thaw. Or am I delusional?
© Tom Kando 2014
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9 comments:
I'm glad you still have a sense of humor. I plan on seeing the film for all the correct reasons, but it also sounds funny.
I love movies at this time of year when we can overdose on all the newly released Golden Globe and Academy Award candidates. In the past week, we have seen “The Theory of Everything”, “The Imitation Game” , “Big Eyes”, and “Unbroken”. All of which I highly recommend as excellent, and for which I have a really hard time selecting a favorite. In the next few days, we will probably see “Wild” and “Foxcatcher”. Have you seen any of the previous four and if so, would you put “The Interview” anywhere close to these in quality? Is it better than Rogen’s usual sophomoric humor?
I saw it here in San Jose today and I would say there were more over 50's there than millennials, and, as we waited in line outside to get in, several of us talked about why we were there. Almost every one said, as I did, not only were they there because they like the actors, but that it was a statement to North Kirea that we won't them decide what we could watch. We also thought it was a statement of our civic duty to be there!!
I saw it on Christmas day using Google Play. I thought it had some funny parts but was not a comedy - the plot seemed strange not very well thought out - almost an improve piece. It was like Beavis and Butthead or Family Guy did the CIA.
I have this sneaking suspicion that at least part of this was a set up. My son in law in the movie business says all of the major studios are trying to figure out how to do a better job of electronic distribution. For a relatively inexpensive movie this might have been a test case. In Mexico there are now what are called VIP theaters where you can get very good food and drinks and very comfortable seats for about 150% of a normal ticket. There are also pocket theaters where one can see a movie with fewer than 20 people. This may well have been a test about whether the electronic distribution would work. I spent about what I would spend for a movie but got the movie.
Was it worth the $14 to get a copy of it? Sure. Was it as good as some of the other fare now like Big Eyes - which we saw in the movie theater - not at all.
I plan to go and see the movie; I found the whole incident to be an exercise and practicum of how we do democracy. First we were all concerned and a little worried then we decided to stick with our values and now everyone is laughing at a great movie.I guess this is part of what it means to be an American.
Gail :-)
Dear Thomas,
"Sure, it repeats the familiar litany - the North Koreans are oppressed and starving, the dictatorship spends its scarce resources on nukes, etc. But many of the North Koreans in the movie are shown as simpatico, even Kim himself is a pretty great guy (until his true self surfaces), and at the end there is the hope for democracy and all that. Who knows, this movie may even help accomplish some sort of thaw. Or am I delusional?”
No, but given your track record, surprisingly poorly informed.
Apparently you have no idea what things are like in North Korea. Do get hold of this year’s UN report. It is with distance the most horrible country on earth and it has remained the same for the past 60 years.
Judging from your account, the spectators leave with the impression that ‘the regime may be ridiculous, but it can’t be all that bad’. If only Kim had understood beforehand.
Kind regards and best wishes for the new year.
I thank everyone for their good comments.
Anonymous: I have seen some of those movies, and I rate “The Interview” as somewhere in the middle of the range.
Mary and Gail remind us that at least some people are viewing this film with some political motivation, which is good.
Jonathan seems to sympathize with the conspiracy theory I suggested in the article.
As to Bram:
I accept your criticism.
First, though, let me set something straight: My sin is not that I am (all that) poorly informed. I am fully aware that North Korea is a disaster.
That said, you are right that one should not trivialize the North Korean nightmare.
I tried to write a lighthearted movie review, and to introduce a “kumbaya” feeling - you know, like Rodney King’s famous “can we all just get along?”
Maybe it’s okay to deal with North Korea and its insane regime with humor and ridicule, as the movie does, but not with lighthearted superficiality, as I do.
Regarding the audience, it is what it is. Lack of political awareness is pandemic. But you feel that it would have been better if I had deplored this, rather than accepted it as something “wholesome,” along with the ability to laugh. Good point!
This was an enjoyable review, in contrast to what I've been seeing on Facebook. The Facebook comments fit in with what you wrote about "older, conservative" viewers being less likely to like "The Interview."
On a related note, my daughter happened to have a dream on Christmas night, that Kim Jong Un came into our house and was throwing a temper tantrum in the piano studio! I thought this was so amusing that I posted about the dream on a Facebook group page for UC members, along with a picture of Kim Jong-Un which had been photo-shopped with mascara, eye-shadow and lipstick, to make him look like a transvestite. I thought it was funny, but unfortunately many others did not.
Several of my fellow Unificationists are offended by the picture and are asking me to remove it. I said I'll remove it when he removes the electric fences around his vast networks of concentration camps.
thank you Maree.
I just spent time (way too much, actually) perusing reviews of the movie on the IMDb movie network. It's appalling how scathing a majority of the user reviews are, on that site. I'm not sure why. Maybe there is some organized bombing going on. Or a lack of comprehension among the public that behind the movie’s frivolous appearance, there is an important political message. Certainly a lack of awareness of what Bram says, in a previous comment, regarding the sad state of affairs in North Korea. Many of the people who hate this movie fall back on the old idiocy that this is American anti-communist propaganda....
It is noteworthy that European and other foreign comments are often more scathing that those written by Americans, and that older people hate the movie more than younger people...
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