The Interview

is one of the dumbest movies in a year filled with dumb movies.  Yes, obviously I watched it; I felt I had to know what the story was, and I will watch almost any film.  A small group of us viewed it using YouTube's pay service at my house, so the cost was minimal--and keeping the cost low was about the only smart choice I made involving this film. 

According to Variety, with data courtesy of the folks who hacked Sony, Sony paid Seth Rogen $8.4 million for his role in the film, and they gave James Franco $6.5 million.  So, basically, Rogen and Franco conned Sony into paying them a combined nearly $15 million dollars to film a mutual hand-job, a bromance love letter of epic proportions.  Good for them.  Sony, on the other hand, needs to find the exec who greenlighted this one and send him/her off for some sort of prolonged punishment, perhaps a hundred repeated viewings of this film.

I won't lie:  I did laugh at times during the movie.  It contains some funny bits, and even a few touching moments.  The vast majority of the time, however, I alternated between wincing and watching in stunned amazement as these two stars created this ode to each other. 

If, like me, you feel you simply must know what the fuss is all about, watch The Interview.  Otherwise, almost anything else you can do with your time is likely to be more productive and make you happier.

Neighbors

I rarely feel the need to explain why I went to a movie, but in this case, I do.  Neighbors is the lead film in what should be a prime summertime movie weekend, and it is no summertime movie:  no real action, very few explosions, no superheros, no aliens, no ludicrous car chases, none of what one seeks in a summer blockbuster.  The trailer made it look dumb, which of course it is.  

But.  Rottentomatoes had its critics rating at 74% and its audience rating at 80%.  Scott and I were both in the mood for something that would make us laugh.  On a hot day, a matinee seemed like a nice treat. 

So we went. 

I definitely laughed a lot, sometimes because the movie was genuinely funny, other times because it was uncomfortably and occasionally unintentionally humorous.  The plot was basically what the trailers had led us to expect, but at least some of the small turns weren't what we anticipated, which was nice.  The four leads--Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, and Dave Efron, who had a supporting role but did well enough with it that he felt like a lead--turned in reasonable performances and clearly tried to take their characters seriously.  Many, many people in small roles delivered strong performances.  All in all, the filmmakers executed their mission quite well. 

What made me have mixed feelings was a fundamental problem with the story:  I couldn't quite like anyone in it.  That lack of affection led to an even more damaging issue:  I almost never felt sympathetic to anyone in the movie.

So, if you're looking for some cheap and easy laughs, Neighbors will deliver.  If you want anything more, though, give it a pass.