The Interview -- Ugh

Jane beat me to it ...  This is a really bad movie.  The only thing worse than watching a bad movie out of a sense of patriotic obligation is doing so with the intent of writing a scathing review, only to find that most of your best analysis has already been written and published by a colleague who also seems to have wasted a perfectly decent post-Christmas day on pablum.  At least I feel like I've made a sacrifice for my country :-). Seriously.  Rent this movie if you must to support free expression -- but don't watch it.  The Rogen/Franco bromance has a barely concealed homophobic subtext that is alleviated only by gratuitous references to erections, drug use, poop and pee jokes, and the female anatomy.  It seems like this movie was designed to appeal exclusively to 13-year old boys.  About its only redeeming feature (other than a fun cameo by Eminem) is that it ends.  It is so ludicrous that nobody can take it seriously. All of which leads to at least one serious conclusion -- if, in fact, this movie was targeted by the DPRK then they have a very substantial misunderstanding of what makes America tick.  We often worry about that in the other direction -- concerned, for example, that we don't really know what motivates Un or Putin or the mullahs of Iran.  But the flip is equally concerning -- if our nation-state opponents (especially those with nuclear weapons) don't understand us any better than we understand them then potential for a catastrophic misunderstanding is substantial. In any event, this movie is bad enough that it would have, in the normal course of events, bombed.  I look at it and do NOT see $44M worth of investment.  Which almost makes me think that the whole take down was a Sony plot to enhance viewership. ..... nah!