This Is the End Review

This Is the End

3.5 stars out of 4

By Brett Takeshita

This Is the End is the comedy that has been generating buzz for quite some time. Hollywood actors -- playing themselves -- experience the apocalypse while taking refuge in James Franco's house. How bad of a train wreck could it be? Actually, it's not a train wreck. It's the wildest, craziest, smartest, and funniest comedy in years.

I basically summed up the plot for you in the intro, but I guess I'll go into a little further detail. Jay Baruchel arrives in L.A. and stays at the home of his good buddy, Seth Rogen. Following an afternoon of weed and video games, Rogen proposes that they go to James Franco's house for a fun party. Despite Jay's lack of interest, they end up at the party. They see multiple stars: Mindy Kaling, Jason Segel, Emma Watson, Kevin Hart, Michael Cera, and Rihanna, among others. After some time, these A-listers realize that they are facing the end of the world. People are either ascending to heaven or falling towards Hell. The Hollywood Hills are set on fire. Cars are crashing, and the environment is changing. For the course of the rest of the film, we mainly examine six actors -- Seth, Jay, and James are joined by Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, and Jonah Hill. Together they must survive this apocalypse and live to see another day.

This Is the End might sound like the stupidest movie in the world, but it's actually really brilliant. It's a brave and fearless film, one that dares to be the nuttiest R-rated comedy in existence. The film is filled to the brim with jokes and gags of every kind. Do you like your jokes crude and raunchy? You'll love this movie because there's plenty of them. Do you like slapsticky visual gags? There's a lot of that. And even for you fans of ridiculously stupid fart, poop, and barf jokes -- you guessed it -- that's in this film too. And surprisingly, nearly every kind of joke they throw at you works.

For me, the funniest and smartest element of the film is the casting. Here, this film has assembled some of the biggest stars on the planet. The public has perceptions of all of these actors. And in This Is the End, each actor is game to mess with the audience by blurring the lines of on-screen and off-screen persona. James is the strange artsy guy with the ambiguous sexuality. Jonah is the slightly kind yet slightly douchey kid with underlying pretentiousness. Seth is your best friend -- the peace-making, crowd-pleasing stoner. Jay is the sensible guy, the one who doesn't fit in with the rest of Hollywood. Danny is the biggest jerk in Hollywood, but he's really smart and knows how to get what he wants. And lastly, Craig is the nice guy -- the jokester with a heart of gold. All of these actors are incredibly strong. They make fun of themselves and allow the other actors to make fun of them. They are all fantastic actors with excellent comedic timing and sensational improvisational skills. They play their roles smart -- or are they just playing themselves? The movie actually makes you think, "How much of this is real, and how much of this is fake?" You'll be surprised at how This Is the End actually makes you think about Hollywood and the key players who are a part of it.

Co-directors and co-writers Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen prove just how smart they really are. This Is the End has so many elements going on. As you already know, they've stuffed their film with rapid-fire jokes to appeal to the masses. They've created a Hollywood satire that makes you reflect upon the entertainment industry. And most surprisingly, they've thrown in a few scares into the movie. They play this film as if it were a true disaster movie where survival is at stake. They've thrown in some fun jump scares as winks and nods to real horror films. You might think that balancing all of these elements would make this film messy, but fortunately, Goldberg and Rogen make a coherent whole with This Is the End. The film succeeds because these many layers make for one complete and satisfying film.

This Is the End is a film that constantly surprised me. It surprised me with the vast amount of celebrity cameos. (The last two celebrity cameos are absolutely brilliant and had the crowd hollering). It surprised me with its ridiculous amount of humor. And it surprised me with its sheer ballsiness and intelligence. I love comedies, but I rarely laugh that hard during them. This Is the End had my stomach hurting. I laughed a little too hard. But so was everyone else in the audience. This Is the End is an absolute blast. I'll be surprised if there's a funnier film in 2013. Three and a half stars out of four.