The Interview - C+

Rated R, 112 minutes
Wes's Grade: C+

Controversial but silly "The Interview" is a strictly hit and mostly miss comedy

So this is it? That's what I was thinking after I watched the mediocre new comedy "The Interview." I'm unsure as to why it has stirred up so much controversy, though I'm glad it finally finds its way to select theaters and online after being scuttled by Sony from the major theater chains following some empty threats from online hackers (and supposedly North Koreans). Without giving too much away, I will say - there's really not much to it - and what is there is only moderately funny at best. Celebrity journalist Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) secure an interview with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un (American actor Randall Park) and are instructed by the CIA to assassinate him. Co-directed by Rogen and his usual collaborator Evan Goldberg and written by TV producer Dan Sterling, the profane and charming "The Interview" is a mixed bag: it's as if a couple of stoners hijacked "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report,"there are a handful of funny moments but falters under a rather dumb, unfocused script. The plotting is thin enough on U.S. soil, but it clearly falters when it reaches North Korea in its second act and loses some footing under a load of unnecessary hijinks and subplots. Honestly, Rogen and Franco have both done much better before, and it doesn't help that it seems more of an overlong, silly vanity project for them, both of whose most annoying traits come out: Rogen's chattiness and Franco's excessive preening and overacting (I really wanted to punch him more than once just to shut him up). North Korea and its Supreme Leader may not exactly be pleased with the portrayal of its country and leader, though Americans should be more upset at the portrayal of the buffoons hired to kill Kim Jong-un (who, according to the movie, seems to have adopted many Western practices: he has a bunch of nice cars, listens to Katy Perry and likes margaritas). Some of the tabloid TV jokes early on were fun - a gay Eminem and a bald Rob Lowe among them - but after that the stereotypical jokes grow thin and it all but falls apart in a last act that doesn't fit with the rest of the film. "The Interview" is a mildly entertaining, hit-and-miss comedy that will only have notoriety for the fact it was nearly brought down by a totalitarian regime, and not for the fact that it was a smart and funny comedy. Considering all that has happened recently, it's a disappointment, but go see it if you must just to tick off The Supreme Leader.