Cast – Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, James Franco, Jonah Hill
Alluring element – Some of the funniest guys on the planet… oh and Emma Watson Check it out if you liked – Pineapple Express, Superbad
Plot – 7
Acting – 8
Representation of Genre –6
Cinematography – 5
Effects/Environment – 6
Captivity – 7
Logical consistency – 6
Originality/Creativity – 7
Soundtrack/Music – 9
Overall awesomeness – 6
Plain and simple, this is a Stoner movie. And perhaps I would have liked it more had I actually been stoned while watching it. Unfortunately, I was much too sober to fully enjoy This is the End. I was really excited to see this film because Superbad is my favorite modern comedy. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are a crack team at writing comedy. All the actors, no matter how small or big a part they were, have all acted in some of the best comedies of the last 5 years. Yet, the movie lacked the charisma the other movies had. It’s a little hard to lack charisma when there is so much personality in one room, especially when all the actors are playing themselves, in a sense. But I think that was the problem; there was too much personality and not enough substance.
This is the End starts with Jay coming to visit his best Canadian friend Seth. Seth convinces an unwilling Jay to go to a party at James Franco’s home. Once they arrive, Jay is ditched by Seth, who hangs out with all his Hollywood friends. We meet a very coked-out and very annoying Michael Cera who slaps Rihanna’s butt. It is great that Rihanna bitch slaps Cera, but if that scene hadn’t been previously leaked, it would have been funnier. Craig Robinson is the life of the party singing a song to match his T-Shirt, “Take Yo Panties Off.” This shirt was possibly the funniest character in the movie. I want that shirt. James Franco has two large canvasses hanging prominently in his new home that read “James Franco” and “Seth Rogen”. Jay soon feels uncomfortable and wants to go to the corner mart. Seth accompanies him and they argue about Jay feeling uncomfortable and the running joke that Jay and Jonah Hill hate each other. At the corner mart, the apocalypse begins and those who are good are sent to heaven. The rest, including our entire cast, are left to what is now hell on Earth. And thus the large chunk of the movie ensues.
A lot of the movie felt as though the writers, and probably the actors, sat in a room for days on end, got stoned out of their minds, and then made a whole bunch of inside jokes. Many of which weren’t funny once on screen. There weren’t a lot of one-liners that came out of this film as being “quotable” as there were in Superbad or Knocked Up. That is what I love about those movies, is that I can still quote them, and they are still funny. The one scene that was memorable and quotable is *SPOILER* when the group is trying to exorcise the possessed Jonah Hill. As Jay stands above him with a crucifix chanting “the power of Christ compels you!”, devil-Jonah mocks ” Guess what? It’s not that compelling.” The majority of the actors play people they really aren’t and haven’t really been in any other movie. But Danny McBride was still an ass. And because of that, I didn’t find him funny. I kept thinking throughout that the role would have been fitting for someone else, and someone who has never been part of that crew. Perhaps the great JGL? I can dream. Many of the jokes were giggle worthy: Jonah playing with James Franco’s gun, the argument over the Milky Way, the sequel to Pineapple Express. But some jokes just fell flat. Discussing Emma Watson and rape in the same sentence is not funny. And really, any joke about rape, especially written by a group of men is hard to come across as funny. And what was with The Backstreet Boys being the music of heaven? Its a little laughable, but it probably only makes sense to those guys.
This is the End is the one of those movies I don’t regret watching, but I probably won’t be watching it again anytime soon. Maybe next time, Seth.
written by Adrian Puryear
Hush Comics 