Special Report

And here it is, a film that I thought I'd never see. A film I thought no one would ever see. A film that certain people didn't want anyone to see. But against all odds, it's here. I am of course talking about The Interview.

Dave Skylark (James Franco) is the star of the talk show Skylark Tonight. His good buddy and producer Aaron Rapoport (co-director Seth Rogen) has seen the show through 1,000 episodes. Aaron's upset that nobody seems to take Dave seriously as a journalist. That all changes when he finds out that no less than Kim Jong-Un (Randall Park) of North Korea is a fan of the show. Aaron personally reaches out to the supreme leader for an interview and surprisingly, Pyongyang agrees.

CIA agent Lacy (Lizzy Caplan) decides the interview is the best chance to permanently deal with Kim. She ropes Dave and Aaron for the Mission Impractical. But since Aaron and Dave are idiots and Kim's cult of personality is strong, the mission looks like it's beyond impossible. How will anyone get out of this OK?

Rogen, co-director Evan Goldberg and their writing partner Dan Sterling certainly got a lot of attention for conceiving this premise. No need for me to explain that. As I see it, the guys set out to make a frat movie set in a politically unstable region rather than the next The Great Dictator. Their end result is stupid and proud of it. That honest tone is the best part of the film.

Franco and Rogen make for a likable pair of idiots. At worst, they're clueless and not overtly offensive. They're the least qualified men for the job and they know it. They get into mishaps along the way that understandably frighten them. All they want to do is party and be serious journalists. The audience will surely want them to at least get out of North Korea alive.

Sony's train-wreck of bad luck forced them to scale back The Interview's release. You can see it in arthouse theaters, the last places you'd expect this kind of movie to be in, or online, which I did. Depending on your choice, you'll see the same silly comedy that certainly dared to exist.