“This is the End”
Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen
Starring Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Emma Watson, Michael Cera
Comedy, Action
107 Mins
R

Funnymen Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen – the writing team behind Superbad – have teamed up again to make their directorial debut and the funniest movie in the last ten years. With the who’s-who of comedic actors playing amped up versions of “themselves,” this ensemble bounce off each other with the snappy veracity of high speed bumper cars and manage to bottle lightning. Like sitting in on a smoke session with this pack of real-life buddies, the experience will either make you euphoric, inducing helpless giggles and maybe even tears of joy, or make you uncomfortable, leave you with dry mouth and make you want to go home. Thankfully, if your funny bone still works, you’ll probably be in the former camp.

Satisfying our munchies for laughs, Rogen and Goldberg have expanded upon their 2007 short film Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse and crafted a full length comedic masterpiece full of sardonic wit and brohemian madness. Chronicling a fictional reunion between long-time friends Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel, the inside-the-not-so-glorious-life-of-a-celebrity aspect demarcates the film from the pack of big budget summer comedies we’ve become acclimatized to. Rogen and Baruchel, playing Rogen and Baruchel, munch Carl’s Jr. burgers and smoke a metric ton of pot (a J made of jays for Jay, to be precise) before heading over to a party at James Franco‘s new pad where the apocalyptic chaos ensues.

Feeling alienated by Rogen’s newfound bromance with Franco, Jonah Hill, and Craig Robinson, Baruchel sulks around the party. Franco’s guests are not just throwaway extras but exactly who you would expect to be living it up at a James Franco party: a slew of young famous people who’ve worked with the crew before on previous projects.

With the cameo really surfacing as a must-have in modern day comedies, they have become, for the most part, ineffective and boring. Shoehorning in celebs feels like a plea bargain and a desperate pull for a gag but the cameos here haven’t felt this fresh since Bill Murray‘s game-changing appearance in Zombieland.

Aziz Ansari, Rihanna, Kevin Hart, Mindy Kaling, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Emma Watson all find a line or two as they saunter around the party, pre-sinkhole of death, but it’s Michael Cera and his penchant for cocaine that steals the show and wrestles us into stitches. Cera has crafted this innocent and harmless persona from his debut in Arrested Development to his more recent roles such as Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and totally turns that expectation on its head. This is a manic Cera; a booty-slapping, drug-addled Cera. Note to the Cera man: you have found a new calling. The bad boy is out, now let him roam.

When the apocalypse begins and people start dying off left and right, Rogen, Baruchel, Hill, Franco and Robinson hole up and prepare for the worst. Divvying up their resources, they realize that they are tragically short on useful provisions (and one much-desired Milky Way) but are stocked up with enough beer, pot, ecstasy pills, and mushrooms for them to party themselves into their graves.

When early-to-bed Danny McBride emerges from a drug-induced hibernation, he quickly becomes the vocally domineering antagonist. As a solo act, McBride’s particular brand of humor works well but it can become overbearing at times in union with the ensemble nature of the piece, with his dead-eyed machismo sarcasm tap-dancing all over everyone else’s toes. Similarly, Franco can’t score the same slam dunk riffs that Robinson, Baruchel, Hill and Rogen are dribbling and passing off between them but, at the end of the day, the imperfections of the movie give it character rather than rob it of its hard-earned steady stream of laughs. Not everyone’s part may play perfectly but, as arts-man Franco would say, it’s all art man.

As a daring new form of comedy, This is the End is art…and it is brilliant. It works as a memorable addition and a milestone for the genre for many of the same reasons that Superbad continues to be a staple for any comedy diet. Behind the blood, penis jokes and billows of weed smoke, these are really genuine friendships that, despite how raunchous and tongue-in-cheek they are, have won us over.

Rather than feeling like an artificially scripted motion of plot points, these comics are left to do what they do best: be comical. With Rogen involved in all steps of the project, a tip of the hat goes out to him as he understands how to best use the talent of the crew around him – something that has somehow become a rare thing in the industry.

When the crew finally do emerge from the confines of Franco mansion, the world is in ruins and the special effects take the stage. Surprisingly enough, they’re pretty damn good! I mean like a long-winded Craig Robinson “dayummmn” good. For a film made on a reported 25 million dollar budget, this looks like a million bucks (which ironically enough costs around 100 million in the studio system.) Hollywood take note – this is how you spend money. Retire your outdated model of smoke and mirrors because Rogen and Goldberg just schooled you at your own game.

Rejoice, comedy is funny once more thanks to This is the End. Like a moustachioed Chutulu rising from the depths, it’s not only a resoundingly successful comedy but also a surprisingly effective apocalypse flick. Aggressively funny from start to finish, this new stripped down take on what the genre can do is somehow self-deprecating and self-aggrandizing at the same time. Still, I dare you not to laugh. This one’s for the screwball, the punsters and the satiricalists and adds up to one of the best times in theaters in years.

A