Review: This Is the End

by Trevor Kirkendall

★★★

If you’re going to try and survive the apocalypse, who would you want to be with when it all came to an end? In Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s case, you’ll probably want to be spending it with some really close friends. That’s the question “This Is the End” attempts to answer, Rogen and Goldberg’s latest laugh-fest that will probably leave you shaking your head from the stupidity, but will leave you gasping for air in between your laughs.

Jay Baruchel has just arrived in Los Angeles to spend a weekend of getting high with his best friend Seth Rogen. Seth suggests that they attend a housewarming party at James Franco’s new house. Jay is reluctant because he doesn’t really know James Franco. Plus, Jonah Hill will be there and he really doesn’t like him. But he agrees, since he’s here to see Seth.

The party is filled with celebrities you’ve pretty much come to expect to see in movies produced by Seth Rogen: Craig Robinson, Michael Cera, Mindy Kaling, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Martin Starr and Paul Rudd among others. Rihanna’s even there. So is Emma Watson.

But at one point in the night, all hell breaks loose. A massive earthquake strikes which brings on the beginnings of the apocalypse. Jay even swears he sees people getting sucked up into the sky in bright blue lights, despite no one else believing it. Before long, only Jay, Seth, James, Craig and Jonah are left in the house alone. And, of course, Danny McBride, who they didn’t even know was there.

The rest of the film is spent with them trying to ride out the apocalypse and figure out what’s going on. Food rationing is an issue, along with the shortage of alcohol and drugs. Also, there might be some kind of a monster or demon lurking around James’ house.

Rogen co-wrote the film with his longtime writing and producing partner Evan Goldberg, and both make their directing debuts here as well. “This Is the End” is quite similar in tone to another film they wrote together, 2007’s “Superbad.” Both films are vulgar, raunchy, perverse and at times pretty vial. And it’s really just plain stupid at times, even by their standards. But just like “Superbad,” it’s also a side splitting riot that makes you laugh so long and so often that you might miss the next joke.

One of the most humorous elements is how everyone is portrayed in the screenplay. Everyone is playing a fictionalized version of themselves. Michael Cera, for example, is portrayed as cocaine-using womanizer. Quite the far cry from what we’re used to seeing with him.

Danny McBride steals the show, as he typically does whenever he’s in a movie. The star of HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” plays his part very close to that of his famous Kenny Powers character. He’s loud and abrasive, imposing his will on just about everyone in his path. He serves to antagonize the group more than anyone else. But just like Kenny Powers, he’s fun to watch.

The film is stacked with so many meta moments that it would make the writers of “Arrested Development” jealous. Everyone talks about the work they’ve done in the past, whether it was good or bad. They know they’ve been in the movies for awhile and that they have recognizable faces, yet its who they are, and they’re not afraid to talk about it. Without citing any specific moments, I can’t really go into it anymore than that. Rest assured, all reference are designed to be interjected at the most appropriate – and hilarious – times possible.

At times, the film feels like a thematic continuation of “Superbad.” In “Superbad,” Seth and Even (Hill and Cera) were ready to go off to separate colleges at the end of the summer. They were lifelong best friends who had never been away from each other. The film ends before they head out on the separate ways. In “This Is the End,” we have Jay and Seth who are also lifelong best friends. They’ve been away from each other for a long time. Now they’re back together again. The film explores how their time apart has changed them and whether or not they’re as close to one another as they once were.

Friendships seem to be an underlining theme in Rogen and Goldberg’s screenplays, which also includes “The Pineapple Express.” Both Rogen and Goldberg are lifelong friends and it shows in their writing and in their characters. If Rogen is really as loyal in real life as he portrays himself here (and to some extent in the character Hill portrays in “Superbad”) then he must be a genuinely good guy and not the typical pompous Hollywood elitist that most in that city tend to be.

Despite the fact that the film is littered with stoner and bodily function jokes, “This Is the End” is a genuinely humorous film. It doesn’t have nearly the same sized heart as “Superbad,” but that probably would have been a little out of place here. This is yet another one of those films were you have to ask yourself, “what what were you expecting?” If you can’t stand Seth Rogen, well then why would you pay for it? Otherwise, “This Is the End” probably won’t disappoint.