'This Is The End' review by Captain Raptor
Out of all three of this year's upcoming apocalyptic comedies, This Is The End is the one that I've been the least excited about. I'm over-the-moon in anticipation about the The World's End, the conclusion to Wright, Frost and Pegg's Cornetto Trilogy, and I'm dying to see the amazingly cast Rapture-Palooza, despite the ominous ratings and lack of widespread distribution, but for me This Is The End was the neglected middle child of the three. It's from writing duo Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who wrote 2007's Superbad, a near perfect combination of sex and booze played for laughs, but their recent track record of The Green Hornet and The Watch doesn't exactly install any confidence.
One thing that This Is The End should be commended for is its ballsy concept as numerous actors and comedians (of severely varying degrees of fame) play themselves trying to survive the aftermath of the apocalypse. There's a lot of self-parody and self-deprecation from the six leads (James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride) and the rest of the celebrities who start the night at a hedonistic party at Franco's house before the Earth opens up to swallow them and fire reigns down from the sky. It's mildly funny to see action star Channing Tatum pretend to be cowardly and submissive or Franco mock the somewhat pretentious arty nature he's known for, but by far and away the film's standout star is famously timid Michael Cera playing himself as a repulsive cokehead bully. He steals every scene he's in, whether he's slapping Jason Segel or gleefully blinding Christopher Mintz-Plasse. If all this name-dropping and self-awareness is bothering you, then This Is The End certainly isn't the film for you, as it has two methods it uses to obtain laughs, one of which is by taking the piss out of Hollywood's comedy elite. The other is sheer childish puerility, which sometimes works (Franco and McBride angrily discussing ejaculation is far, far funnier that it should be, showing Goldberg and Rogen's mastery of their wonderfully immature craft) but when it doesn't, it's groan-worthy and makes you feel bad about paying for the privilege to see it.
Although the film is mostly about goofball comedy, a fair proportion of it is devoted to the action and special effects bonanza of the titular 'End', and the scene in which the apocalypse interrupts Franco's house party features more gore and death than any section of a similar length from this year's Evil Dead remake, during which around 15 to 20 well-known comedians (and Rihanna) meet their bloody end. Up until this scene, the comedy has been steadily building, but the carnage is so intrusive that it takes the film a while to get back into the swing of things. The remainder of the film is a mixed bag, and features almost nobody apart from the six actors I mentioned above (one or two other survivors crop up throughout the rest of the film). For a supposedly tight-knit group of friends, the cast don't actually seem to have that much chemistry together, and Franco, Rogen, Hill and particularly Baruchel (who acts as the outsider to Hollywood and the audience's window, but also highlights the precise reasons he hasn't had as much recognition as the rest of the cast) really aren't as funny here as they need to be to carry the film. Craig Robinson manages to deliver every line perfectly competently, but it's Eastbound and Down's Danny McBride who really has the most fun, playing an monstrously exaggerated version of himself: an asshole whose unbelievable arrogance repeatedly worsens an already terrible situation.
This Is The End is unbelievably childish and occasionally uncomfortably bloody and self-referential. It's also moronic, taking a fairly high-concept film and treating it with overwhelming simplicity. The cast aren't always pitch perfect, and an above-average knowledge of the American comedy scene is required to fully appreciate all the jokes and references. There's certainly a lot here that could put a viewer off. However, ultimately, the film can be extraordinarily funny at times, which for all the other flaws is the main purpose of a comedy, and even when the jokes do fall flat it's below average at worst and the lapses in entertainment don't last for long. I came out of the cinema having thoroughly enjoyed myself with what I consider to be a goofy and inventive success. The person I saw it with described it as "a self-indulgent mess". This Is The End certainly doesn't possess mass appeal, so if you require a film to be intelligent, calm or coherent to be enjoyed then you'd better look elsewhere. To everybody else, switch off your brain (apart from the segment required to understand in-jokes and recognize references, you'll be needing that), strap yourself in and enjoy one hell of a ride.
One thing that This Is The End should be commended for is its ballsy concept as numerous actors and comedians (of severely varying degrees of fame) play themselves trying to survive the aftermath of the apocalypse. There's a lot of self-parody and self-deprecation from the six leads (James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride) and the rest of the celebrities who start the night at a hedonistic party at Franco's house before the Earth opens up to swallow them and fire reigns down from the sky. It's mildly funny to see action star Channing Tatum pretend to be cowardly and submissive or Franco mock the somewhat pretentious arty nature he's known for, but by far and away the film's standout star is famously timid Michael Cera playing himself as a repulsive cokehead bully. He steals every scene he's in, whether he's slapping Jason Segel or gleefully blinding Christopher Mintz-Plasse. If all this name-dropping and self-awareness is bothering you, then This Is The End certainly isn't the film for you, as it has two methods it uses to obtain laughs, one of which is by taking the piss out of Hollywood's comedy elite. The other is sheer childish puerility, which sometimes works (Franco and McBride angrily discussing ejaculation is far, far funnier that it should be, showing Goldberg and Rogen's mastery of their wonderfully immature craft) but when it doesn't, it's groan-worthy and makes you feel bad about paying for the privilege to see it.
Although the film is mostly about goofball comedy, a fair proportion of it is devoted to the action and special effects bonanza of the titular 'End', and the scene in which the apocalypse interrupts Franco's house party features more gore and death than any section of a similar length from this year's Evil Dead remake, during which around 15 to 20 well-known comedians (and Rihanna) meet their bloody end. Up until this scene, the comedy has been steadily building, but the carnage is so intrusive that it takes the film a while to get back into the swing of things. The remainder of the film is a mixed bag, and features almost nobody apart from the six actors I mentioned above (one or two other survivors crop up throughout the rest of the film). For a supposedly tight-knit group of friends, the cast don't actually seem to have that much chemistry together, and Franco, Rogen, Hill and particularly Baruchel (who acts as the outsider to Hollywood and the audience's window, but also highlights the precise reasons he hasn't had as much recognition as the rest of the cast) really aren't as funny here as they need to be to carry the film. Craig Robinson manages to deliver every line perfectly competently, but it's Eastbound and Down's Danny McBride who really has the most fun, playing an monstrously exaggerated version of himself: an asshole whose unbelievable arrogance repeatedly worsens an already terrible situation.
This Is The End is unbelievably childish and occasionally uncomfortably bloody and self-referential. It's also moronic, taking a fairly high-concept film and treating it with overwhelming simplicity. The cast aren't always pitch perfect, and an above-average knowledge of the American comedy scene is required to fully appreciate all the jokes and references. There's certainly a lot here that could put a viewer off. However, ultimately, the film can be extraordinarily funny at times, which for all the other flaws is the main purpose of a comedy, and even when the jokes do fall flat it's below average at worst and the lapses in entertainment don't last for long. I came out of the cinema having thoroughly enjoyed myself with what I consider to be a goofy and inventive success. The person I saw it with described it as "a self-indulgent mess". This Is The End certainly doesn't possess mass appeal, so if you require a film to be intelligent, calm or coherent to be enjoyed then you'd better look elsewhere. To everybody else, switch off your brain (apart from the segment required to understand in-jokes and recognize references, you'll be needing that), strap yourself in and enjoy one hell of a ride.
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