The Interview

Rented the movie on VUDU, this is one funny, stupid, idiotic and strangely violent flick. I laughed my arse off.

North Korean Dictators have no sense of humor

...but they like Katy Perry

and Dennis Rodman

In reply to SVreX:

Ah, but while the US would bitch about such a movie, we wouldn't threaten violence over it. A stern letter would be the end.

SVreX wrote: ...but that is chasing a rabbit. My point was not how anyone responds. My point was that it's not cool (nor funny) to show the assassination of a real sitting world leader.

I happen to agree.

I can't help but wonder how far we are from mainstream media producing "snuff" films. Clearly there are no ethical boundaries that they will not cross.

1988RedT2 wrote:

SVreX wrote: ...but that is chasing a rabbit. My point was not how anyone responds. My point was that it's not cool (nor funny) to show the assassination of a real sitting world leader.

I happen to agree. I can't help but wonder how far we are from mainstream media producing "snuff" films. Clearly there are no ethical boundaries that they will not cross.

Have you seen Saw, Hostel, or the first Hollywood snuff film, The Passion of the Christ?

I can't get upset about a movie showing a fictional portrayal of a world leader being killed...especially this one.

In reply to SVreX:

Yeah, I don't get what's so funny about trivializing and lampooning what's probably the most oppressive regime since the Third Reich.

SVreX wrote: I don't think we'd like it if it was President Obama.

I bet 40-45% of the country would

I will agree they should have mad a fake world leader. Or even a fake country (East Korea?). Its a comedy, its not like it would detract from the movie.

That said, I haven't seen it. yet.

SVreX wrote: My point was that it's not cool (nor funny) to show the assassination of a real sitting world leader.

Does that actually happen in the movie?

In reply to SVreX:

I think you're taking the whole thing too seriously.
I haven't gotten the impression that North Korea cares about what the US government thinks of them, much less what the American movie-going public thinks.
FWIW, their plan to assassinate him goes horribly awry, his death ends up being almost accidental.

And the movie is very funny.

We have watched it twice. It is funny. My biggest issue with the movie is the language. I think they could have cut F bombs down a lot.

Again, I think you're overestimating how much the North Koreans care what we think about them.
Americans mock them on the internet every day and they haven't lobbed a nuke at us yet, why expect a different response just because a movie studio green-lights a film doing it?
Arguably as important, do you think the government should have stepped in and forced them to keep it under wraps?

Curious though, your stance on other culturally insensitive movies.
Guessing you didn't like Borat (which is an even funnier movie), was that one OK because Kazakhstan is a nuclear power without a despot behind the wheel?

I thought it was berkeleying horrible. James Franco's character was played like converting oxygen to CO2 was a monumental achievement. I will say Seth Rogan's character was allot better than I expected.

Sony is lucky that thing was in the middle of a controversy or it would fade into obscurity faster than Rachel Leigh Cook

In reply to SVreX:

Dude, I don't even know where to start. Have you even seen the movie?

In reply to Smarta$$ McPoopyPants:

He clearly has not.

Whatever you do, don't upset the fuhrer!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9cL67USFaS8

And we should also ban Team America, lest we get nuked.

And no more terrorist jokes. Those berkeleyers are crazy. I mean "sweet." Wouldn't wanna piss them off. They might get mad and do some crazy E36 M3. Oh wait.

In reply to SnowMongoose:

The North Koreans care very much what we think of them, they want us to think of them as incompetent fools, comic book villains. That is their external propaganda.

SVreX wrote: It's not a matter of taking it too seriously. If you appreciate this type of humor, that's fine. Not my cup of tea, but I'm glad you enjoy it. Here's the question- Would it have been less funny if the characters were fictional? I am REALLY uncomfortable using a real world leader for a mockery like this. Especially a crazy one who has nukes pointed at our head. It's about as culturally insensitive as possible, and not too smart.

I bet you're tons of fun at parties.

I've seen the movie. It's stupid and not very funny, but it's certainly not worth getting upset over.

I reply to everyone talking about a E36 M3y movie in a serious light...

Just shhh and it will die.

In reply to SVreX:

Um... it doesn't matter that you're so concerned about a movie that you can't even be bothered to watch?
Seems to me that you're in a poor position to be commenting in anything resembling an informed manner.

In reply to SVreX: Miata?

SVreX wrote: It crosses a line. Not cool. It doesn't matter if it's funny or not.

Umm, crossing lines is the basis of a LOT of comedy. I wasn't aware that this particular line was so sacred. Thank God we have you around to tell us.

Is it in bad taste? Sure. Should the producers thought farther into the possible reprocussions? Possibly. But what you're asking us to censor is a right many of us place a high value on, even if we don't like what it sometimes defends.

In reply to SVreX:
Funny, since seppuku is high on my list of ways to die.

If the movie had been produced/funded/in any way brought about by the US government, I'd say you might have something resembling a valid point here.
(other than the point from the article you linked that this is the first time anyone has made a film about killing a current world leader)
The purpose of the film was laughs, not smoothing down international relations... that's Washington's job.

If you're not saying that the government should have censored it, what's your point?
Should we start cracking down on anyone making fun of current world leaders?
Arguably made in poor taste, sure.
Remotely likely to create repercussions beyond saber rattling?
No.

SVreX wrote: Umm.. It's not that I can't be bothered. It's that I have made the reasoned decision to not watch it, because I HAVE researched it, and DO know. Do you need to experience Hara-kiri in order understand that it might be unpleasant?

I think you should at least watch the end. I watched the movie, it's just OK. If you don't want to support the production of the movie, there's torrents.

After the stars bungle their attempt to assassinate Kim, James Franco's character humiliates Kim in an on-air interview, making him cry and poop his pants. Then there's a chase and eventually the "good guys" are in a tank and Kim chases them in a helicopter (this is where you need to start watching). Kim's helicopter shoots at the tank and they shoot back at him. Here you see the tank shell hit the helicopter in slow motion. You see Kim get consumed by the explosion, you can see his face getting burnt a bit before the flames consume him but it's not very graphic or serious. It's all played for laughs.

BTW I'm pretty sure that obvious stand-ins of various world leaders have been killed in Hollywood productions (and mainstream video games) before, even if they're not explicitly named.