Those persons
who presented Sony Pictures’ cancellation, and cancellation of the
cancellation, of the release of The Interview in the context of a struggle
for “freedom of expression” apparently want to believe that this film is to the
Kim regime what Charles Chaplin’s The Great Dictator was to the Third
Reich: a clever satire of a loathsome regime.
The Interview, however, evidently is not a political statement; critics
whose job it is to review Hollywood’s releases so that others will know whether
those releases are worth viewing seem all to agree that it’s just a tasteless and
mindless film that attempts to derive humor from assassination. I don’t defend Sony’s initial decision, but
to urge people to buy a ticket for The Interview, as the Republican
Party did, is going too far. (To be fair to the GOP, I ought to note here that it
urged people not to see the film but
merely to buy a ticket to do so!)