“I love stupid comedies. Well, I love smartly done stupid comedies. The kind where you don’t hafta think, but thought was still put into them. Killer dialog is the best way to do that for me. If not that, then clever offensive humor, that’s not just relying on the fact that it’s offensive for it to be funny. But there’s another thing that’ll get me pretty much every time, even though you don’t see it too often: actors making fun of themselves. And This is The End was exactly that. A movie full of funny guys I love making fun of themselves for nearly two hours.
James Franco is throwing a huge party at his place for all his friends. Then the apocalypse happens. Most of the house full of famous faces are killed in hilariously hideous ways, leaving just a small troop trying to survive at Franco’s house. That sentence may sound kinda basic (or kinda like a run on), but there’s so much packed into that.
First, apocalypse. The other night, the BFFF was over and we watched Zack and Miri. I mentioned This is the End to him, and suggested he run to the theater to see it. His first question: “”What kind of apocalypse? Zombies?”” “”Nope. Full on Revelations. Yeah. They went there!”” Sold. Kind of a ballsy move for such an imputent band of misfits, and I applaud them wholeheartedly for it. When nothing’s sacred in a comedy, you can really cut loose and find some truly hilarious avenues to explore. Also, with as big as the apocalypse theme is nowadays, how often do you see people go truly old school New Testament apocalypse? And the percentage of Jewish actors in the core cast made it that much better.
But before the apocalypse, there was the party. So many of our core group’s friends playing exaggerated versions of themselves: Michael Cera (prolly the biggest scene stealer of the lot), Chris Mintz-Plasse, Emma Watson, David Krumholtz, Rihanna, Minday Kaling, Paul Rudd, Martin Starr, Aziz Ansari, Kevin Hart. They each may have only had a couple minutes of screentime, but that was probably my favorite thing to watch. There were also some surprise cameos towards the end, that were even better.
And of course, there’s our main boys: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and Danny McBride. I don’t even know what to say about those guys. If you’ve ever seen any of their movies, you know how much fun they can be. Now imagine them with no boundaries. When Seth Rogen is one of the most subdued actors on screen, you know things are really going all out. Yet through it all, they managed to have a story with some heart. At least they did in the character interactions and in solving their apocalyptic predicament. That might be their most impressive feat of all.
This is the End – \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/