Review
This movie had received a lot of publicity regarding the plot of the movie.
Comedy is most effective when it’s taking a risk. Here, the directors took a big risk, and managed to finesse something shocking and novel out of the familiar Franco-Rogen dynamic without overplaying their hand. The Good: Seth Rogen plays the straight man in this one and is actually quite good. His timing, one-liners, and body language are hilarious and his scenes comprise the bulk of the funny moments in the movie. The supporting cast wasn’t bad either, as Randall Park and Diana Bang provided the remaining handful of chuckles. Randall Park (who played Kim Jong-un) was especially good. The story itself actually isn’t a bad one and set up what should have been a solid comedy.
The Bad: James Franco almost single-handedly ruins the film as he wasn’t even remotely funny. In fact, some scenes that had good build up dropped dramatically once he started talking. Overall, the movie itself just didn’t have enough truly funny moments and it seemed to panic and default to over-the-top violence and raunchiness. I don’t mind either of those in my comedies, but when a film so obviously resorts to it due to a lack of any real creativity, then it’s a problem
PLOT
Dave Skylark and producer Aaron Rapoport run the celebrity tabloid show “Skylark Tonight.” When they land an interview with a surprise fan, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, they are recruited by the CIA to turn their trip to Pyongyang into an assassination mission.
Blu-Ray Extras:
- Deleted and alternative scenés
- Bloopers
- 3 Line-O-Rama’s
- Pussy, Pussy
- Date a Director
- Spy’s under us
- Getting into the part
- Puppy power
Genre:
Action, Comedy
Directors:
Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Cast:
- James Franco
- Seth Rogen
- Randel Park