This Is the End Review

I’ve really been looking forward to a good Hollywood comedy, but unfortunately most of the post-Bridesmaids fare hasn’t worked for me.  To prove my point: my two favorite “comedies” from last year were The Avengers and Django Unchained.  Unfortunately the Apatow boom of the mid-00s has waned as most comedy movements do and I felt a little of that going in to This Is the End, the latest from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who both also directed.  Although the buzz was great, I couldn’t help but feel a little like I would’ve been more excited for this if it came out in 2008.  A high concept film with the cast playing versions of themselves?  Not to mention it’s another apocalypse film (there’s still one more to go this summer).  This could’ve been a disaster, but luckily I was dead wrong.  This Is the End is a blast, a strong contender for funniest movie of the year.

This film stars Rogen and Jay Baruchel as two friends who’ve drifted apart.  Rogen’s more successful, and Baruchel finds the Hollywood scene and Rogen’s new friends annoying.  Despite Baruchel’s reservations, Rogen drags him to a party at James Franco’s house when The Rapture and subsequent apocalypse happen, forcing the handful of survivors to hole up in Franco’s fortress of a mansion.  Despite the larger than life stakes outside—which claim the bulk of the celebrity cameos in the first act—it’s a relatively small film, taking place mostly within that set.

With most of the cast playing themselves, it can easily devolve into being too self-indulgent, but the film is so funny that never gets to that point.  The cast is in fine form from Jonah Hill behaving like South Park’s Cartman when he’s sucking up to authority figures to Michael Cera’s drunken creep to Danny McBride, basically playing Kenny Powers and annoying the other survivors.  Although the film goes a little longer than I like for comedies, I could’ve seen at least five more minutes of the cameos at the party in the beginning (I expect there will be a lot of deleted scenes when it comes out on home video).

Even if you don’t get the references (though people who get them will enjoy it more), the film still works on a solid structure.  It’s not relying solely on improvisation, something that sinks so many comedies.  The film is basically about a friendship in turmoil as one friend gets successful and makes a new group of friends that clash with the first friend.  There’s also stuff about selling out and making fun of over pampered celebrities.  It also has a strong heart at its center with a good message of living well.  It’s almost like Hollywood taking a crack at a movie usually made by Christians for Christians.

Following some of the casts questionable career choices, you get a feeling this film is a back to basics move and it works.  This film is consistently funny and gets right what a lot of the stars’ recent comedies have gotten wrong.  There is some less than impressive CG, but it’s easy to forgive given the budget and the feel that this film was a labor of love.  It is the refreshing jolt of life mainstream comedy films so desperately needed.

Grade: B+