REVIEW: This Is the End

This Is the End (2013): Written and directed by: Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen. Starring: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera and Emma Watson. Rated R (Language and assorted apocalyptic debauchery). Running time 106 minutes.
 

2 ½ stars (out of four)

There are so many references and in-jokes in This Is the End, an end-of-the-world comedy written and directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, I can’t imagine the movie will be very funny even just a few years from now. Still, if you see it on a Friday or Saturday night in the next couple of weeks (a comedy like this is always more enjoyable with a packed house), you’ll get your money’s worth of laughs.

And if you already think the guys in this movie are funny, then seeing This Is the End in theaters is a no-brainer. When all hell is (literally) unleashed on the world, a group of Judd Apatow regulars hole up in Hollywood hoping to outlast the apocalypse.

Everyone plays themselves, or rather, caricatured, sometimes self-deprecating versions of themselves. For some of them, the movie is an opportunity to reinforce an already established persona. Seth Rogen, as always, is the affable stoner. He has a remarkable ability to give you the impression that he is already your friend. James Franco is the playboy. He’s the charismatic jerk who hosts the epic banger of a party in his newly bought mansion on the night of the rapture.

Other actors use the movie to play with their celebrity personas. Jonah Hill, wearing a diamond earring in his left ear, is effeminate and full of himself. Apparently still high off his Oscar nomination from a few years ago, the Hill character sees himself as a cut above the rest of these lowbrow comedians. Like many of the other actors in the movie, Hill is one of those guys people always accuse of playing themselves in every movie. Here, he actually does play himself and it’s one of the most individually distinct characters he’s ever played.

Michael Cera has a memorable cameo, playing against his usual awkward adolescent character as a coke-sniffing womanizer. Emma Watson shows up too to prove she’s more than Hermione Granger. (About a dozen more actors and stars have cameos, some of which are inspired.)

Danny McBride was never an actor I particularly liked but here, maybe for the first time, I understand what it is that people like about him. His comedic timing is on point and he is relentlessly, cheerfully tasteless. After a while though, I remembered why it is I can only take him in doses. His sense of humor is exhaustingly crude and cynical. It can be a bit much.

For my money, Craig Robinson made me laugh the most. He’s been stealing scenes in supporting roles for the better part of a decade now and is always a welcome presence in a movie. Perhaps the most likable and relatable guy here, Robinson squeals like a little girl in the face of danger and is delighted to find that drinking his own pee isn’t so bad. He can switch back and forth between straight man and goofball in a way few comedians can.

Then there’s Jay Baruchel, who usually plays the whiny, goody two-shoes of the group. In This Is the End, he plays the whiny, goody two-shoes of the group. With everyone else so gleefully playing into his type or against it, why isn’t Baruchel allowed to join in on the fun? Did Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen think the movie needed a moral center for the audience to relate to? Someone who scorns the vain lives of Hollywood celebrities? The movie does not need that and would have been more fun without it. Similarly, his bromance with Seth Rogen (in the film, the two are childhood friends reuniting for a weekend of smoking weed at Rogen’s place) is tired and weighs the movie down.

These scenes aside, This Is the End is a lot of fun. These actors are great at banter and the biggest laughs in the movie come not from the gross-out gags but the slick, fast-paced dialogue. At one point, bored in Franco’s fortress of a home, the guys decide to make a homemade sequel to The Pineapple Express. The best thing about This Is the End is that it feels like a movie made by a bunch of friends. All the CGI demons and other hellish effects made possible by the movie’s big budget aren’t necessary. This Is the End puts its stars front and center. They’re having a good time and you will too.

- Steve Avigliano, 6/15/13