“The Interview” (2014) was a pretty good comedy for much of its running length, but then lost its way — I’d give it a 7 out of 10.

James Franco is fantastic — he’s funny as hell, and I think I am on my way to becoming a Franco fan (Francophile?).  Seth Rogan is a good straight man.  And Randall Park is terrific in the role of Kim Jong Unpleasant.

The funniest parts of the movie happen early on, with celebrity interviews on the movie’s fictional entertainment news show.  The cameo by Eminem was hilarious, thanks to Franco’s over-the-top reactions and the rapper’s surprisingly great deadpan delivery.  The cameo by Joseph Gordon Levitt was funny even without a line of dialogue.  I wish the whole movie was like that — a goofy, dialogue driven farce about the Fourth Estate, like “Anchorman” (2004) or the 1980s’ “Fletch” movies.

Sadly, Franco’s wit increasingly takes a back seat to potty humor and seemingly constant sex jokes.  It’s not that I’m a Puritan or anything … these things just weren’t funny, and even started to feel like filler.  Then the movie fails remarkably in its final act, with bizarre creative choices by the screenwriters — it turns into slapstick physical farce with (confusingly) a lot of violence, blood and gore.  Finger horror?  Borrowing a stomach-turning, brutal battle sequence from “Band of Brothers” (2001)?  Miss Pyongyang?  And … a bizarre emotional payoff regarding a rescued puppy?  Huh?

Whatever.  The film was still funny.  And it makes me want to check out another James Franco movie.  So it has that going for it.