June 23, 2013

 

This Is the End might sound like your typical end-of-the-world disaster movie, but it’s so much better! Take all of your favorite Judd Apatow actors, throw them all in one room, and then kill half of them, leaving just a handful to fight to survive in one house and that’s This Is the End. Written and directed by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, the apocalyptic stars a plethora of famous faces playing an exaggerated version of themselves.

 

Seth picks up his buddy from home Jay Baruchel from the airport and after an afternoon of getting high and playing video games, the pair head to James Franco’s house for a party. Everyone from Jason Segel and Aziz Ansari to Rihanna and Emma Watson are there, getting drunk and high and having a great time. When Seth and Jay go out to get cigarettes they experience a huge earthquake and blue beams of light sucking up people into the sky. They go back to the party and everyone inside says they didn’t see or feel anything, when suddenly another earthquake occurs, forcing everyone outside. A huge sinkhole develops and majority of the party’s attendees get swallowed up into the fiery abyss.

 

The five that survive, Jay, Seth, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and James Franco, gather inside to board up the windows and doors and take inventory of their supplies, which isn’t much. Believing it’s just a natural disaster, they hunker down thinking that since they are celebrities, someone will soon come to rescue them. When they wake up the next morning they find that Danny McBride has used up a majority of the food rations to make the crew breakfast, not realizing there were huge natural disasters the night before. While the group argues, a man tries to come into the home when he is suddenly beheaded by something on the outside.

 

As time passes, the group gets stir crazy, making fake movies , such as the sequel to Pineapple Express, to keep themselves occupied. They set up a ‘confessional room’ a la MTV to talk about their days and each other. After a while, Emma Watson breaks in, but after a misunderstanding, she leaves with the group’s water supply. Back to square one, Robinson loses a bet and tries to get to the home’s basement through the outside door, however, he encounters some sort of creature and runs inside empty-handed. Jay, reading up on the bible, begins to believe that what’s happening may not be natural disasters but the Apocalypse the Book of Revelation predicts.

 

Soon, the group gets antsy and kicks out Danny. Then, Jonah has an encounter with a demon and becomes possessed. As Jay and Craig battle a creature in a neighbor’s home, a possessed Jonah attacks James and Seth. During a poorly executed (and very funny) exorcism, James’ home is set on fire and destroyed, forcing the now foursome out into the wild to survive. They quickly figure out how to get into heaven, but must find a way to execute a way.

 

I promise you will be laughing the entire time. And if you are unsure of where the film it going, I promise it has a purpose, so just wait out the laughs. The last five minutes of the film make it all worth it. Some of my favorite scenes are the exorcism scene, the most likely improvised jizz argument between James and Danny and, of course, the last five minutes. All of the cameos are fantastic as well, and they aren’t just in the first disaster scene, the cameos are throughout the entire film! A lot of money was spent on the graphics too, as the creatures and pits of fire, etc. were very realistic for a comedy.

 

Seth Rogan and Even Goldberg hit pure gold with this film. Those that love disaster movies AND comedy should make this a must see this summer!