The jokes were frequent and raunchy, the bloodshed comically exaggerated, and the audience ate it up at a sold-out Christmas Day showing of The Interview at the Cinema Village in Manhattan.
After more than a week of build-up, during which it was at times unclear whether the farce about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would ever be shown in theatres, the simple act of going to the movies was embraced as a victory for free speech.
“We are expressing the freedom to see, read, and look, at what we want to,” Lee Petersen, Cinema Village manager, told the audience to applause as he welcomed the crowd to the 3:05pm show, one of six screenings on Thursday at the independent art deco theatre in the east village. “I think this a very historic moment. And enjoy the movie. It’s funny.”
It was funny — in a deeply silly way familiar to anyone who has seen previous work by Seth Rogen, the film’s co-star and co-director.
Mr Rogen plays Aaron Rapoport, producer of Skylark Tonight, a television interview programme helmed by the shallow and self-assured Dave Skylark, played by James Franco. Aaron dreams of journalistic integrity, while Dave fears losing Aaron, who has elevated the show from its tabloid roots.
Their big break comes when Dave discovers that Kim Jong Un is a fan of Skylark Tonight and Aaron lands an interview with the reclusive dictator. When the CIA hears of the plan, the duo are recruited to assassinate the leader during their stay in North Korea. They are given poison, communication devices and clearly stated instructions. Vanity leads them astray with unsurprising speed, and predictable high jinks ensue.
The film careens down the path of its own logic: Dave bonds with Kim over basketball, margaritas and Katy Perry before opening his eyes to the reality of the failed state. Aaron tries to keep his partner on task. There are many jokes about anatomy.
The final act culminates in gun battles, gore, and the timely deployment of Ms Perry’s song, “Fireworks”.
In the end, the Americans get home largely unscathed and North Korea holds democratic elections. And the audience was fully along for the ride, laughing loudly throughout.
Had Mr Rogen and his co-creators made their villain the despot of an imaginary country, the movie would probably have lost some of its sharpness — and theatres would definitely not have been packed on Christmas Day, surrounded by TV film crews scrums pouncing on the emerging audience members.
Peel away the media attention, the blustering political rhetoric, the outrage at Sony’s perceived wavering in support of the film, and the embarrassing mess of the corporate hack attack which the movie apparently inspired, what was left?
A funny-enough romp, with politics unlikely to challenge the beliefs of most American viewers.
As one patron commented on leaving the cinema: “It wasn’t actually a serious comedy.”
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