We’re never going to give a film that ends on a Backstreet Boys love-fest singalong a glowing review, but in all fairness the latest Jonah Hill, Seth Rogan, James Franco outing, This Is The End, isn’t all bad. It works well enough as a light hearted, end of the world comedy farce and while it’s inevitably pretty inane there are a fair few laughs in and among the ludicrous nature of the plot.
Apocalypse films have been around for a while and over the last ten years or so they’ve reached a fever pitch of releases ranging from everything from asteroid decimation in Armageddon to alien destruction in Independence Day and the most recent parody equivalent, The World’s End. However, relatively few of them have focused on the old school fire and brimstone biblical apocalypse, which is where This is the End steps in with a shockingly cheeky grin on its face.
The story follows alternate versions of the stars as they head on over to a house warming party for James Franco (Your Highness), which is rudely interrupted by the arrival of the end of the world. With Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up) visiting Seth Rogan (50/50) in Hollywood and getting dragged along to the party, where everyone from a messed up version of Michael Cera (Youth In Revolt) to a slightly camp Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street), a bad-ass Emma Watson (Harry Potter) and a hard-hitting Rhianna, it’s a random take on the apocalypse.
While it is sort of refreshing to get a different take on the the destruction of the planet, the reality is that the plot gets very silly at time. Some of the silliness is pretty funny, including Craig Robinson kicking Aziz Ansari (Epic) in the mush when he grabs his legs from the mouth of a flaming sink hole or Emma Watson mugging them all for their water, there are a few moments that that take farce to the next level, like Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street) becoming Danny McBride‘s (Your Highness) gimp or a half mile high devil getting it’s flaming tonker lopped off by a beam of heavenly light.
The craziness reaches the preposterous in the last third of the film and climbs to a fever pitch for the final few scenes, undoing some the smarter comedy in the first two quarters of the movie. Where This Is The End works well is in the free-flowing dialogue between the characters as they act out the fake versions of themselves, leading to the best comedy of the film. It’s not necessarily enough to make up for the negatives, but it will make you laugh.
The This Is The End DVD is at best a good rent for anyone that enjoyed either Your Highness or Pineapple Express, but we’d be surprised to find many people who would be happy to watch it more than a couple of times. The spoof element and loosely scripted dialogue are the highlights, but in their attempt to parody the apocalypse movie genre they sort of overshot the mark a little too much.
This Is The End DVD review: 3.1/5
