Saturday, July 20, 2013
This Is The End (MA 15+)
NOW seemingly embedded into the consciousness of Generation Y is the sort of comedy to come from the mind of Seth Rogen and his comrades. An expectation of crass language and sexual innuendo hangs high over any of their material.
The success from a series of films that started with Judd Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin back in 2005 has rarely waned. Moviegoers have flocked to see their crazy, unrealistic-yet-still-relatable stories.
We’ve also been receptive to watching films about the end of the world - the threat of it or what happens afterwards. Cinema has been obsessed with the idea before the Mayan calendar’s 2012 prophecy, but this year we’ve received nothing less than a steamroll of ideas telling us how we might all go.
It’s no surprise that Rogen and regular partner in crime Evan Goldberg wanted to get in on the trend. They had already toyed with the idea on the short Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse (2007).
It should also be no surprise that Rogen’s success is enough to warrant a film about him and his friends. In this case, reacting to news of the apocalypse as comedic actors would - by locking themselves inside James Franco’s fortress of a Hollywood mansion.
Jay Baruchel would much rather be in Hell to begin with. Dragged along to Franco’s house for a typical Hollywood party by Rogen, he feels removed from Rogen’s new set of friends, who also include Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson.
Photo: media-feed.com
Danny McBride makes up the six who survive the panic and quickly manages to make himself the unpopular one as they fight for survival on rations of food, drugs and alcohol.
It seems nearly too... normal for much of the first half - the natural disaster, taking refuge in shelter, attempting to work out personality differences.
But of course, the comedy we expect rears its head as they ponder the chances details of the Bible’s Book of Revelations have come to pass.
It slips into ridiculousness with a supernatural villain and threats involving semen before the realisation that their end is based on basic human values.
The ability to parody oneself is admirable though, and Rogen and Goldberg stretch that successfully further by focusing on the relationships between the six men, particularly Rogen’s relationships with Baruchel and Franco.
The bromance is well and truly prominent, and while girl power gets a look in thanks to Emma Watson, this is another episode of The Boys Club. Thankfully, that’s not an alienating element. This unique look at the end of the world has enough laughs to sustain the story’s slow pace and proves for Rogen and co that playing their most comedic selves is most effective.
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