Following the back and forth behaviour of Sony, the call to fight for free speech from President Obama and the frightening actions and claims made by the ludicrously named ‘Guardians of Peace’, The Interview comes forward as a film far inferior to the one it should have been. At least, that’s what the entire debacle and commentary surrounding its eventual release has shaped us to believe, forcing us to invest too much potential into the Seth Rogen and James Franco starring romp through North Korea.

Dave Skylark (James Franco), a charismatic but easily manipulated man-child, hosts a popular television show. It’s not exactly a late-night Fallon or Conan gig, but positioned as more of a ‘journalistic’ venture with Skylark as its central, idiotic force. The focus of the show and the kind of ‘news’ it brings to audiences night after night, however, is more concerned with audience-baiting celebrity gossip than anything else, summed up by the opening gag which sees rapper Eminem come out as gay live on air (‘it’s like if Spike Lee said he was white!’). Skylark’s producer, Aaron Rapaport (Seth Rogen) quickly comes under fire from a former friend for pandering to the masses and not providing serious interviews despite the platform the show offers. As an attempt to shift tone and gain some respectability, Skylark suggests to Rapaport that he conducts an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after discovering that he is a fan of the show. After miraculously getting into contact with the dictator after contacting the country’s Olympic representatives in the US, the pair are whisked off to North Korea, but not before being secretly co-erced by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong-un during their visit. This, the setup, moves at a frustratingly quick pace and it’s hard not to think that more could have been done to establish the film before re-locating to North Korea, but the tongue-in-cheek farce which follows is entertaining enough to dismiss most concerns over character and plot. Taking a cue from Team America, the film initially paints Jong-un as a lonely isolated man longing for friendship, a role which Skylark is easily able to fill, being subsequently rewarded with his share of drinks, women and the free use of a tank. Ultimately, Skylark realises that this is all an act, put into place to win him over to the dictator’s side, but beforehand, the bulk of the film centres around the growing ‘bromance’ between these two characters followed by the inevitable heartbreak that occurs when one realises the other is a maniacal despot.

This was never going to be an intelligent indictment of North Korean leadership or politics. Anyone who watched the first trailer released earlier in the year clearly saw that The Interview wasn’t a step away from the Rogen/Franco oeuvre, but a continuation of the pair’s stoner-bromance comedy: initiated on television with Freaks and Geeks and brought to the silver screen for the first time in Pineapple Express. Unfortunately, The Interview possesses none of the wit or cultural commentary which made last year’s This is the End an unexpectedly intelligent comedy, which successfully married celebrity satire with the kind of toilet humour normally associated with the inhabitants of the house that Apatow built. This feels like a step back rather than the step forward which This is the End suggested. That said, perhaps the best way to watch The Interview is to simply divorce it from the real world politics and events which have dogged its marketing and eleventh-hour release, because after all is said and done, the film does offer some fabulously comic moments even if they are little more than guilty pleasure skits and not the kind of high-brow satire one may have hoped for. This is The Great Dictator rather than Animal Farm, but like the slapstick antics of Chaplin’s 1940 effort, The Interview does have its place within contemporary comedy. To believe that the film has any more worth than that of a trashy exploitation flick is a mistake akin to the belief that Kim Jong-un doesn’t go to the toilet: the film’s ultimate punchline and the epitome of what the Rogen/Franco brand is all about.