Based on a controversial foreign film, Steve Buscemi's Interview is a verbal war between two people who know how to use words and emotion to their advantage - a journalist and an actress. Buscemi, who also co-wrote and directed the film, plays the awkwardly named Pierre Peders and the gorgeous Sienna Miller plays Katya, the hottest new star in Hollywood. Pierre is a journalist who has cut a few too many corners, which has taken him off the political beat and forced him to do what he considers a fluff piece about the stunning star of a hit TV show. Pierre doesn't know who Katya is and he doesn't care. He shows up for an interview at a restaurant and, expressing similar disdain for the whole affair, Katya arrives an hour late to the meeting. Let's just say that things start off on a bad foot and don't get much better. Neither Katya nor Pierre have any respect for each other and aren't afraid to show it, but after a freak accident lands the journalist in the actress' apartment the two decide to play games with each other, trying to get at each other's deepest, darkest secrets.

Interview is basically a one-set movie with only two performers. It would make a very good off-Broadway play and, on that level, it's consistently interesting to watch. Buscemi and Miller are both up to the challenge of being on-screen for the entire running time, but the film starts to deflate a bit before its even halfway over. Buscemi deserves credit for writing two characters who are so extremely unlikable - both Pierre and Katya do and say awful things to each other - but it's a lot to ask of an audience for them to care about what happens in the end. And the film doesn't seem to care much either. We meet these two miserable people, spend about an hour-and-a-half with them, and then we leave. It's interesting to watch Interview because of the very good acting by Buscemi and Miller, but when it's over you may question what you were supposed to get from it, if anything. It's a bizarrely unaffecting film, completely detached even in its emotional scenes, that's worth seeing for Buscemi and Miller but won't linger with you for too long. Like most print interviews, it's interesting while you're reading it, but also incredibly easy to turn the page.

The DVD from Sony treats Interview very well with a good video and audio transfer and a nice trio of special features. The most interesting is the audio commentary by Steve Buscemi, one of the most consistently good character actors in Hollywood. Also interesting are the behind-the-scenes featurette and a very good piece on Theo Van Gogh, the man who made the original Dutch film and who was tragically murdered three years ago before he could see the remake come to life. Theo would have been proud of this DVD.