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When your friends are all A-List celebrities, what is the best plan? Ask them all to be in your movie about the end of the world and have the plot set at one of their houses. It is a foolproof plan, if the comedy is top notch and in the case of This Is The End the comedy was indeed outrageously top notch.
Jay Barcuhel flies in from Canada to spend time with his old buddy Seth Rogen and after an afternoon of smoking weed and playing games the two decide to attend a housewarming party at James Franco’s house. Joining them are A-list celebrities including Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Aziz Ansari, Mindy Calling, Rihanna, Michael Cera and Emma Watson. As the night takes a turn for the worse and the apocalypse descends upon them, the group of rag-tag celebrities must learn to bond in order to survive.
Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg the hilarity ensues the moment they walk through Franco’s front door. We are treated to outrageous performances and hi-jinks that lead up to the impending doom, but I’ll get to that. First off, Michael Cera’s portrayal of a oversexed and cocaine loving version of himself was the first early treat this film had to offer. This was the weirdest Cera has had the chance to be yet and it was stellar to see him representing an offshoot of his real life persona, albeit the exact opposite of who he really is but still fun because of the ridiculousness of the entire situation at hand. The cameos from Jason Segel and Kevin Hart were also perfectly timed and took a backhanded shot at Segel’s long running sitcom How I Met Your Mother.
Despite the hilarity that took place during the party, the real show gets under way when Jay and Seth take an adventure to the local convenience store to buy a pack of smokes. Jay, much to the dismay of everyone else sees people being beamed up into the sky. As things get out of hand and chaos ensues the group of comedians find them holed up in Franco’s house trying to ration the food and water supplies to the best of their ability.
It then becomes an improvised end of the world comedy, with situations that were taylor made for the talent involved in this film. Franco and McBride going back and forth was gut wrenchingly funny, while Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel added their witty brands of comedy to the mix. Add in a cameo appearance from Emma Watson and what you get from these guys is one of the most awkwardly presented scenes in a long while.
However, the best part of this film ends up being the ability of the entire cast to laugh about the poor choices they have all made, allowing the humour to not only be about the apocalypse happening right outside Franco’s front door, but it allows it to be self-depreciating allowing these guys to call each other out in the most absurd ways possible. When you let Seth and Evan handle the apocalypse, it is inevitable that movie heads down a weird path. This movie becomes a lot darker and lined with religious tones then I had expected. It adds a layer of complexity to the level of humour that Seth and Evan are used to. Amongst these guys who can’t seem to put their differences aside, they not must deal with repenting for their past mistakes in order to get them to heaven.
The coolest part of this film is that it is made for long term fans of the crew involved. Those who understand all the one liners about their previous films and real life will get a kick out of this film. It is a lot of fun from start to finish and you are guaranteed to laugh if you like this brand of humour. This film is certainly not for everyone, and goes out its way to offend people and be off the wall. Be careful when deciding to this, especially if you do get offended easily by raunchiness and overt sexuality. Despite that, it is fun for the whole family (just make sure your whole family is over 18)
9/10
