This is the End isn’t the greatest comedy I’ve ever seen. There are funnier comedies, smarter comedies, comedies that will reward rewatching – something this comedic take on the apocalypse is less likely to do, reliant as it is on surprises. But, dammit, it’s been a long, long time since I’ve walked out of a cinema with a grin as wide as the one This is the End left on my face.
The film features Judd Apatow’s comedy stable (Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Danny McBride) playing hugely exaggerated versions of themselves when Franco’s housewarming party becomes a fortress against judgment day. The film has three truly hilarious sections: the initial party, where a coked-up Michael Cera provides most of the humour, a passage that begins with “Let’s take all the drugs,” and a finale that you must experience for yourself. In between these bravura segments, the movie breaks up its time between laid back cabin fever-inspired jokes, emotional moments that should be familiar to anyone who saw Superbad, and signs of the apocalypse that range from ridiculous to really fucking scary. This is the End is far from flawless, but at its best, it’s spectacular.
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There’s certainly a lot of fun to be had with this. Some of the humour got a little tiresome for me but it had enough moments that did make me laugh out loud.
Yeah – there are certainly bits that wear out their welcome, but basically I haven’t had this much fun (on average) in a cinema for a while, so warts ‘n’ all I’d still recommend it pretty highly. I’m also very glad that I didn’t get spoiled on much beforehand, given it only got released this week over here!
I couldn’t agree more with this review. Is it the funniest film ever made? No, of course not. But it is the funniest film I’ve seen in a long, long time. In fact, it’s one of the few comedies in recent years that I saw twice in the theater. Loved it. Great review!
Thanks Alex! It really knows exactly what it wants to be, which helps a lot – it reminded of Zoolander in that it knew how ridiculous it was, so it was happy to undercut itself and emphasis its own silliness (eg ridiculing its own sappiest moment by scoring it with Whitney Houston).
How’d you find it the second time you watched it? I admit to being a little worried that it’s one of those films that’s only funny the first time (see: The Hangover, though this was better than that obviously).
Nice review, I agree with your points. I saw the film with a friend of mine, and we were both suprised how gory (I dislike gore and he said it was just comedy!) it got sometimes (spoilers) like when someone stepped on someone’s face whilst running and their eyes popped out of their sockets, or when they were kicking around that poor guy’s head and blood was spirting out everywhere. Other then that it was an ok film, although another surprising turn was how quite religious it became. Not that I minded, but in a world where atheism is becoming the norm, it was strangely refreshing and somewhat thought-provoking.
Thanks for the comment. It’s definitely quite gory and even scary (well, startling) in parts, more so than I would have expected for a comedy. I liked that; it ups the stakes and keeps things interesting even if the jokes aren’t landing, but I imagine if you’re not a fan of gore it might have been a bit confronting – especially with the head-soccer!
Yeah, the way it approached religion surprised me, particularly as the majority of the cast were Jewish!
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