THIS IS THE END Reveiw

THIS IS THE END Review

By Darin Skaggs

     The apocalypse is upon us!  Well in movie form that is.  With the rumors of the Myan calendar meaning the world would end, the film community has embraced it and made several apocalyptic films.  Some films include 2012, War of the Worlds and Melancholia.   In the most recent Seth Rogan film This is the End they take on the apocalypse in one of the funniest films to come along in a while.

     The film opens with Seth Rogan, playing himself as everyone does in the film, picking up his friend Jay Baruchel from the airport.   They hang out at Rogan’s place, do lots of drugs, play lots of video games and eat lots of food.  Rogan then decides to go to a party at James Franco’s.  Jay is reluctant claiming not to enjoy the “Hollywood” type.  Rogan convinces Jay to go anyhow.  When they get there they met up with several other guest including Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Emma Watson and Michael Cera.  After a couple of arguments and disagreements Rogan and Jay go out to get a pack of cigarettes.  While gone chaos sets in and crazy things start to happen.  Seth and Jay run back to Franco’s to warn everybody, no one believes them until everyone goes outside, then a big hole opens up in the earth and kills several celebrities.   At that point only Robinson, Franco, Rogan, Baruchel and Hill are left.  The rest of the film is them trying to survive.

     This film is funny.  The guys’ playing heighted versions of themselves is hilarious.  Things like Franco not wanting any of his stuff being destroyed or Craig Robinson wearing a towel on his shoulder that reads “The Robinson” the entire course of the film are just some of the funny aspects.  Several jokes including ego, ownership and status work well in the film.  The end of the world humor works really well too.  Several jokes about demons and even heaven are tackled in the most humors way.  The shock humor is sometimes goes too far, but mostly the jokes work.

     Even though the film is funny it tackles the view of friendship and how people judge celebrities and how celebrities judge others.  The whole time everyone is saying how selfish each other is being, while at the same time being selfish themselves.  By the end of the film we find out who is not selfish and who is.  It is a comedy with some strange and interesting theological theories which is something I did not except to find in a summer comedy.

     You could watch this film and say it is silly and it is but the film has much more to offer.  Great jokes and wonderful self-referential material in the film and almost none of the jokes fall flat.  This film is definitely a contender for funniest film of the year and also being one of the better surprises of the year so far.