Imagine being invited to a party only to show up and hanging out–all dignity faded away with each sip chug of a beer and inhale of a fattie–with the likes of James Franco, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, and Jay Baruchel. You’re having a good time, there are other celebrities chillin’ like villains, but then all of a sudden sh*t starts to deteriorate. Literally. Because, well, this is the end.
The gut-busting new film stars a slew of your favorite comedic actors of the day and hits the silver screen today. And judging from early reviews, it won’t disappoint.
The endearingly crass end of the world flick looks to be the next in line of a new breed of comedy. Like similar films, this one pairs a hefty budget and explosive special effects with the most amusing joksters of the day. Which is fine because it just adds another dimension to an otherwise over-killed plot and opens the viewership up to a wider market.
In this Pineapple Express meets Project X meets 2012 joke-laden thriller, six friends become trapped in a house after a series of strange and catastrophic events devastate Greater Los Angeles. But Things start to get tense after cabin fever and lack of survival gear start to take their toll on the party dwellers. Really, though, it looks like the director handed the cast a camera, told them to throw a party and just improvise like their lives depended on it.
From the trailer alone I have no problems saying the movie looks simply hilarious, but don’t just take my word for it. Here are some reviews for This Is the End, in theaters now.
Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine– “This Is the End, a meta-Hollywood story that takes place mostly at James Franco’s house—during The Apocalypse—is my sweet-spot comedy for 2013. It is intensely raunchy and silly and joyous and tapped right into my inner teenager in a glorious way. It’s Tropic Thunder crossed with Shaun of the Dead with just a dollop of Being John Malkovich.”
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times– “Even within the madness you can always feel the method. Goldberg and Rogen’s comic form is a tangy brew of high-brow thinking, Stooges slapstick and hard-R language that somehow works. From the clockwork comic timing to the movie’s salty mix of the ridiculous and the reflective, “This Is the End” is stupidly hysterical and smartly heretical. Cross my heart and hope to die, it’s funny as hell.”
Claudia Puig, USA TODAY– “The film (*** out of four; rated R; opens Wednesday nationwide) is uneven and about 15 minutes too long. But when it’s funny, it’s hilarious. End hits all the right notes in its gleeful send-up of celebrity entitlement. It’s particularly fun to watch these actors — the cornerstone of Judd Apatow comedies — poke fun at their public images.”
Bob Mondello, NPR– “Once everyone gets tied up in the plot, this glorified slacker flick goes, well, slacker, partly because the whole celebrity-cribs vibe flies out the window when things get special-effects beelzebubbly. That said, Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg, who co-wrote and co-directed, are clearly having fun giving you the feeling that both celebrity boundaries and filmmaking boundaries are being crossed.”
