05 January 2015

Uncommon Commentary #439: Rated PU

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!)