North Korea tried to stop this?
Swift shot: I laughed hard, three times. The rest of the time, it was like being around two idiots who were in on one long inside joke that I didn’t get. Maybe if I knew Seth and James personally, it might have worked, but what I got was two douche bags that were overly vulgar and not very funny. And, I actually liked Pineapple Express. Still, the film pissed off North Korea, so, there’s that, I guess?
James Franco plays the biggest idiot since Cabin Boy, Dave Skylark, who has somehow conned America into thinking he is worth watching. Mostly thanks to his producer, Aaron (Seth Rogen) understanding how to market his retardery into a convincing media package. He’s only slightly less annoying than Franco, err, I mean Skylark. Many times in the film, it becomes difficult to tell if they are acting or just fucking around on set. Skylark isn’t a real person, he’s a damned toon!
After Eminem “comes out” in what was supposed to be a hilarious scene, the lyrics and nuance were clumsily handled and just had me cringing at how painfully base the whole reveal was handled. Eminem was, oddly enough, the only funny part in Funny People, but he should fire his publicist for getting cast in this mediocre satire. Mediocrity isn’t something I expect from Rogen or Franco, to be quite frank. I expected funnier stuff from them, generally being a fan of theirs.
You all know the plot by now, unless you live in North Korea where only sixty people have the NET, ok, those numbers were exaggerated. Skylark is persuaded by the CIA to assassinate President Kim, Supreme Leader of North Korea. To think the CIA would use these buffoons to pull off more than wiping their asses (which I am not sure they could handle apart, given their on screen antics) was more disbelief than I could suspend. Still, I tried going with it.
As you might guess, Skylark and his producer find themselves in over their heads, and the way the story plays out, I actually liked. What I didn’t like was the actual direction, the editing, making the serious scenes very serious would have put this film on a whole ‘nother level, instead it was just stupid. Rogenites and Francophiles will probably eat this shit up, but one day they’ll grow up, re-watch this flick and realize I was right – this is not their best work. Not by a long-shot.
But, one redeeming quality of the film was Diana Bang’s performance as the Supreme Leader’s propaganda minister, Sook. I believed she was Sook, at least. Can’t say the same for a lot of the other “talent”. Watching so many people overact, underact, and some just not act at all, had me shaking my head throughout. I guess that’s the new way in Hollywood, don’t rely on talent, rely on how many times you can make an ass of yourself on screen. The Interview had plenty of that!
I will give credit to the effects folks, they made the gore and violence in the film feel very real. Sadly, there wasn’t enough. I mean, this is North Korea here, folks, there was plenty of material to work with. I bet a lot of jokes were strewn from the script by some tight-ass suits, and if not, the plethora of writers blew many opportunities. Lots of jokes had potential to be very funny, but just kinda sputtered out. Like the extraction scene, where someone has a special extraction, we never see it. Old Franco and Rogen would have loved making us endure that shit.
Considering the level of insane hype, international intrigue, death threats, hackers and even Obama calling out Sony and North Korea, I was expecting a lot more. Ultimately, I felt like when Gargamel finally got to eat a Smurf on Robot Chicken. I got all amped up for this shit?
