Turns out that Hollywood is a confusing place to be when the Rapture happens. See, right before Hell is unleashed on Earth the righteous are ascended to Heaven to signify that The End of Days are upon us. In Hollywood very little of this ascension happens. You may be able to guess why. And if you are at a party at James Franco’s house, not one celebrity makes the trip to the Pearly Gates leaving Danny McBride to guess that maybe the chaos outside is because “maybe the Lakers won?”
This is the idea behind “This is The End,” a peculiar and absurdly hilarious new comedy from comedian/writer/horrid-laugher Seth Rogan and his longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg. Although their first flick, “Superbad,” succeeded as a teen buddy flick the film lost steam and the first half is much better than the conclusion. Then the two have been striving for something unique as all of their projects have been hybrid mash-ups that try and inject comedy into another genre. “Pineapple Express” (Pot Comedy mixed with 80s Action) “The Green Hornet” (Comedy/Superhero/Worst Michel Gondry Movie Ever) and last year’s “The Watch” (Alien Invasion Movie. I think there was supposed to be some comedy in there but I don’t remember anything funny happening).This mix of genres have resulted in a dysfunctional entertainment that has failed at achieving their intent. But I’ve always thought they had good ideas that sound great on paper but are very hard to execute.
With “This is The End” the pair have finally hit the bull’s eye and brought us something we have never seen before that is inspiring and, above all, highly entertaining. I’m guessing that the difference is that Rogen and Goldberg directed the film this time and so what sounded great on paper finally made it to screen.
R.E.M were wrong and it doesn’t start with an earthquake or birds and snakes. It starts with Seth Rogen (Seth Rogen) picking up his fine Canadian friend Jay Baruchel (Jay Baruchel) up at the airport. I will no longer put the actors names in parenthesis after their name as this has been to signify that all the actors play variations of themselves in this film. It’s a novel but important element. Since a statement here is that if the Rapture happens, Hollywood is going to burn with all the celebrities in it, saying that they are going to be amongst the flames is a nice self-deprecating concept that makes this movie hum.
Anyways, Jay doesn’t like Seth’s Hollywood friends and does not want to go to a party at Franco’s house. Jonah Hill will be there and Jay hates Jonah Hill. Danny McBride is a dick and Michael Cera is a raging cokehead that nobody likes. After Craig Robinson leads a sing-along of “Take your Panties Off” holes start to sink into the earth and everything catches on fire. The survivors barricade themselves inside Franco’s fortress (he designed it himself and painted many of the paintings that hang from the concrete walls. Of course) and spend their time getting high and making homemade sequels to their movies on the camera from Franco’s “127 Hours”. The boys slowly figure out what is going on and are left to expose why they weren’t taken to Heaven in a beam of light and left behind with the wretched.
Leonard Bernstein!!
Sorry. The R.E.M. thing again.
The actors do a great job at presenting a version of themselves that is self-parody but also seems to hold enough truth to give this thing some weight. I saw a Rogen and friends speak at Wondercon and he stated that they acted out some issues here and that what you see was difficult at times to put on film. While the film is part vulgar gross out it also has some solid action scenes with the actors running through Hell on Earth screaming and acting much the way I feel like I would react myself.
So what did we learn from “This is the End”? When or if the Rapture happens I don’t know who, if anyone, will be in good shape. I know I might have a problem. I also learned that I want to be friends with Seth Rogen. Those guys get to make pretty cool home movies. That’s what this feels like. A bunch of friends getting together and making a movie in their house and the end product is infectious.