Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Barauchel, James Franco, Danny McBride, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson
It’s the end of the world as we know it and Seth Rogen and company are here to treat us to their newest apocalyptic comedy “This is the End.”
It’s not perfect by any stretch but this film is still easily one of the funnier movies of the year and worth watching on the premise alone.
Seth Rogen and the rest of his friends, which include Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride as themselves, try to stay safe during the apocalypse and of course hilarity ensues.
That’s all you need to know in order to get a ticket to this end of the world comedy.
Rogen, whom also directed and wrote the screenplay for the film, does a great job with the film’s insane premise of Hollywood’s most popular comedic actors trying to survive demons, possession, hell hounds and cannibals while doing copious amounts of drugs and putting up with each other’s insane antics.
The actors play well off each other and it does at times feel like we are watching what these guys would actually be like during the end of days.
The film has a lot of charm to it showcasing the zany friendship of the actors and what craziness they may get into when they are not filming.
The problem with the film though is that at times you really do feel like just a bystander left out of an inside joke as the humor sometimes feels like it would be funnier if we actually knew these guys on a personal level or were there ourselves.
In many ways we are Jay Bruchel in this movie, who as part of the story, feels awkward and left out of the big Hollywood scene and doesn’t feel that he fits in at James Franco’s party.
The films humor can get stale at times because of this and could have been done better.
The film makes up plenty for it though with tons of laugh out loud moments which include, I kid you not, a giant Devil penis.
The film’s apocalyptic setting can get over the top at times but that’s what makes this film so funny.
The demons, the bible metaphors and possession combining with these actors make this film very enjoyable.
The problem is there are not enough of these moments in the film.
For a comedy about the apocalypse, most of the film is spent inside James Franco’s house and most of the humor revolves around the actors’ antics with each other and other crude humor when it should really be more about them trying to deal with the apocalypse itself.
At times you almost forget that it’s even happening in the film because they barely go outside.
The humor is fine in these moments despite this but it felt like the film needed to get crazier as most of its best moments take place in the last third of the movie where all the apocalyptic stuff happens the most.
During this time the movie begins to feel more like a horror comedy along the lines of “Shaun of the Dead,” which it should have been more often.
(one of the film’s funnier moments is in this scene. Watch it!)
Despite this of course the movie still holds together very well and I was laughing at least a little in every moment of the film.
It’s not the instant classic it could have been but damn is it funny and fans of these actors will be very pleased when they see this.
Because it doesn’t quite get crazy enough though I can’t recommend more than a matinee.
“This is the End” doesn’t ascend to comedy heaven but it is devilishly good nonetheless and worth the watch.
Verdict: 3.5 out of 5