Before I even begin, there is one big factor right off the bat that determines if you will like this movie. If you are not a fan of Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, or Craig Robinson, you will not like this movie one bit. It’s not like “Not a fan of Tom cruise, but I do like action movies” type of dislike for an actor. These actors are the main characters in this apocalypse comedy, and are acting just like they probably would in real life. SO if you are plain annoyed by any of the above stars of the film regardless of real life or fictional portrayal, you will not like this movie.
I didn’t add Danny McBride to the list, cause I feel a majority are overall annoyed with him as a human.
Now if you do like them or are at least indifferent to the above, you’re going to enjoy yourself with this incredibly rude and crude comedy. Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogan were the directors and writers for the story, the two have either frequently starred in or co wrote movies with Rogan, Baruchel, Franco, Hill, and Robinson. So the chemistry and dialog are very natural and most likely real. Who wouldn’t want to make movies with long time friends?
The plot if pretty straight forward, Hollywoods elite are having a party at James Franco’s house right before the apocalypse. When you have Michael Cera blowing Cocaine into McLovins eye at a Franco hosted party in the first ten minutes, you know what movie you’re getting yourself into. Seth and Jay see the good people being raptured up to heaven in blue light, while the bad are sucked into giant sink holes leading straight to Hell. There are too many stars to count, but it was strangely gratifying seeing Aziz Ansari being kicked into a Hell pit and George Michael Bluth being impaled by a street sign. The movie has gore that fits very well into the low brow comedy that follows the stars boarding up their home and passing the time while trying to survive the demons crawling around Hollywood. There’s gross humor, stoner comedy, and self deprecating humor sprinkled throughout the picture. Actors that can make fun of themselves and their parody counterparts is something I can always appreciate. Especially if it involves Emma Watson terrifying the main cast with an axe and jacking their remaining supplies.
Their idiotic endeavors are the heart of the movie, and a good amount of their scenes and one liners had me laughing. Some scenes I felt could have been shortened or completely omitted in my opinion. 90 minutes is a good amount of time for any comedy, and This is the End is roughly 20 minutes over that.But the vague apocalyptic generes and 70’s horror nods and without spoiling it, a great Rosemary’s Babys reference is crudely squeezed into the movie make this film a great way to pass the summer heat.
I’m not a hard person to please in terms of tongue in cheek and crude humor, but This is the End has enough comedic and self aware humor and modern movie goer references to keep you entertained. I wouldn’t suggest seeing to with your Grandmother, but basically everyone else is fair game. Aside from the occasional scenes that dragged on unnecessarily, I give this groddy twist on the rapture flick a 4.5 out of 5.