This Is The End Review
Fun blended with chaos into a concoction only Seth Rogen & James Franco could star in.
Talk about a star studded cast? This movie’s political incorrectness makes it so I can’t delve into all the particulars, but that is exactly what makes this movie funny. So many movies like this get negative reviews on other pages when it’s movies like this that entertain and make people truly happy. Don’t get me wrong, there are parts where it’s overdone or underdone, like a lot. But those moments of unholy inappropriateness make you giddy inside. But anyways lets talk about the cast and story (because both were horrifically entertaining)
The cast. Goodness me. Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, and about fourteen other people who show up just to be ridiculous for a few minutes and leave. The best part is that everyone is playing themselves, but not really themselves, more so the version of themselves that your worst friend would describe after hearing one podcast clip and seeing two interviews. Vain, terrified, insecure, hungry, famous, stupid, and somehow still lovable. That is not easy to pull off, but this group does it because they all seem painfully comfortable making themselves look awful.
Danny McBride, in all honestly I don’t even know what to say. He enters this movie like a disease with confidence. Consistently the guy shows up in every scene he is in and makes it feel like the director gave him no boundaries or limitations. Craig Robinson is hilarious in the way where he does not even need the best line, he just needs to react to the worst person in the room. Jonah Hill playing this fake saint, this polite little demon wrapped in kindness, was oddly perfect. James Franco’s house being treated like a sacred celebrity museum while the world is literally ending is, unfortunately, probably accurate.
The story is dumb, but I don’t say that as an insult. It is dumb in the way a comedy should sometimes be dumb. The apocalypse starts, people are getting swallowed into hell, the sky is on fire, and these grown men are arguing about food, friendship, magazines, and who is more annoying to be stuck with. That is the joke. Not the demons. Not the chaos. The joke is that the world ends and everyone is still themselves. Maybe worse. Probably worse.
There are parts where I thought, alright, we get it. And then five minutes later I was laughing again. That is the rhythm of the movie. It throws a joke at you, misses, throws another, hits, then throws something so insane you wonder who was allowed to approve it. But that is also what makes it feel alive. So many comedies now feel sanded down and afraid of their own shadow. This one is not afraid. It probably should have been at certain points, but I respect that it wasn’t.
All in all, This is the End is one of those movies that critics can poke holes in forever and normal people will still laugh at with their friends. It is not clean, it is not classy, it is not trying to win your respect. It is trying to make you laugh at the end of the world. And for the most part, it does.
If you are watching this for a beautiful story about humanity surviving together, please don’t. If you are watching this to see famous people lose every ounce of dignity while biblical horror unfolds around them, then yes, absolutely, press play. It is messy, immature, gross, loud, strangely clever, and wildly entertaining. Not for everyone, but neither is fun apparently.