On the importance of The Interview
February is almost upon us and here, in Michigan, the air has turned cold and bitter. Great book reading weather. As such, I would like to announce that I have two books available for pre-order.
Before the Mask Which will be released on February 12th. One year after the publication of Beneath the Mask of Sanity we come back to Bentley and discover his origins.
Also: The Space Between
A novel about one man's life from 1937 until 1998. It will be released on April 16th and I am very excited about it.
Now, to get to what we're really here for.
The Interview is now available on Netflix and I have just finished watching it.
The controversy surrounding the film is well-known and largely behind us, but there is an irony here. The North Korean government was very angry about the film and called it blatant terrorism. The irony is that the film is nothing more then recycled fluff that means nothing.
But it could have been so much more.
The concept for The Interview (a TV tabloid host interviewing a brutal dictator) is genius, but the storyline fails to do justice to the incredible premise.
What I would have loved to see was a more serious look at the nature of propaganda and manipulation as shown by both North Korea and The United States.
I'm not suggesting that the film not be a comedy, far from it, I'm simply saying that the film could have been a much better comedy. One that meant something.
And what's irritating is that there is the nugget of that story in the film. There are allusions to the issues, but they are dealt with in such a superficial nature and for such a short period of time. Instead we're left with a parade of homosexual-themed jokes, gross-out humor and slapstick. All of which we have seen before. There's no new ground being broken here.
I think they could have made a brilliant comedy, but they went cheap and they went easy.
The idea of a TV tabloid host interviewing a dictator is great. After all, the reason that David Frost was selected to interview Richard Nixon after his resignation and the Watergate scandal was because they viewed him as more of a comedian than a serious journalist. So the idea that Kim Jong-Un would agree to an interview with a tabloid journalist is not totally absurd.
Manipulation is a theme through the movie, but it almost seems to get in the way of the silly antics of Seth Rogen and James Franco.
Instead, manipulation should have been the heart of the movie. There are instances where North Korea uses manipulation and propaganda, of course, but there are also instances where agents of The United States do the exact same thing. The difference is that we're supposed to root for the U.S. because they are the "good guys".
I would have loved it if the C.I.A. had been villainized more in this movie. The motivations of The United States questioned. If there had been a hard look at the kinds of manipulation our own media pulls and how it parallels with North Korea.
The movie should have started with a serious core plot and then had the jokes and gags written to fill-in the rest of the movie. The humor should have played up the ideas in the film. Instead, the ideas are lost in the sea of stale comedy.
Basically what I'm saying is the movie could have been brilliant satire. Almost like Dr. Strangelove was decades earlier--only funnier.
What they opted for was broad comedy and slapstick which drags down the brilliant idea behind the movie. They didn't do the idea justice and that is one unforgivable sin in writing.
Despite what you've just read, I didn't hate the movie. I thought it was okay. If I were grading on a star-scale of 1 to 5, I would probably give it a 2.5. I can't really recommend it, but it's not the worst thing you'll see. My biggest problem is that the jokes aren't funny. They are all things I've seen before and I didn't laugh once during the whole thing. What kept me watching was the plot of the movie.
What made me sad was the movie it could have been.
Before the Mask Which will be released on February 12th. One year after the publication of Beneath the Mask of Sanity we come back to Bentley and discover his origins.
Also: The Space Between
A novel about one man's life from 1937 until 1998. It will be released on April 16th and I am very excited about it.
Now, to get to what we're really here for.
The Interview is now available on Netflix and I have just finished watching it.
The controversy surrounding the film is well-known and largely behind us, but there is an irony here. The North Korean government was very angry about the film and called it blatant terrorism. The irony is that the film is nothing more then recycled fluff that means nothing.
But it could have been so much more.
The concept for The Interview (a TV tabloid host interviewing a brutal dictator) is genius, but the storyline fails to do justice to the incredible premise.
What I would have loved to see was a more serious look at the nature of propaganda and manipulation as shown by both North Korea and The United States.
I'm not suggesting that the film not be a comedy, far from it, I'm simply saying that the film could have been a much better comedy. One that meant something.
And what's irritating is that there is the nugget of that story in the film. There are allusions to the issues, but they are dealt with in such a superficial nature and for such a short period of time. Instead we're left with a parade of homosexual-themed jokes, gross-out humor and slapstick. All of which we have seen before. There's no new ground being broken here.
I think they could have made a brilliant comedy, but they went cheap and they went easy.
The idea of a TV tabloid host interviewing a dictator is great. After all, the reason that David Frost was selected to interview Richard Nixon after his resignation and the Watergate scandal was because they viewed him as more of a comedian than a serious journalist. So the idea that Kim Jong-Un would agree to an interview with a tabloid journalist is not totally absurd.
Manipulation is a theme through the movie, but it almost seems to get in the way of the silly antics of Seth Rogen and James Franco.
Instead, manipulation should have been the heart of the movie. There are instances where North Korea uses manipulation and propaganda, of course, but there are also instances where agents of The United States do the exact same thing. The difference is that we're supposed to root for the U.S. because they are the "good guys".
I would have loved it if the C.I.A. had been villainized more in this movie. The motivations of The United States questioned. If there had been a hard look at the kinds of manipulation our own media pulls and how it parallels with North Korea.
The movie should have started with a serious core plot and then had the jokes and gags written to fill-in the rest of the movie. The humor should have played up the ideas in the film. Instead, the ideas are lost in the sea of stale comedy.
Basically what I'm saying is the movie could have been brilliant satire. Almost like Dr. Strangelove was decades earlier--only funnier.
What they opted for was broad comedy and slapstick which drags down the brilliant idea behind the movie. They didn't do the idea justice and that is one unforgivable sin in writing.
Despite what you've just read, I didn't hate the movie. I thought it was okay. If I were grading on a star-scale of 1 to 5, I would probably give it a 2.5. I can't really recommend it, but it's not the worst thing you'll see. My biggest problem is that the jokes aren't funny. They are all things I've seen before and I didn't laugh once during the whole thing. What kept me watching was the plot of the movie.
What made me sad was the movie it could have been.
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