This is the End
This is the End is both the weirdest and maybe the funniest movie you will see all summer. However, it had a lot of raunchy/gross stuff in it, which is not really my thing, so I loved half of the movie and wasn't really impressed with the other half. I also didn't know that it was a horror comedy (though maybe if I had watched the second red band trailer for it, I would have figured that out ...), and a lot of the "horror" parts were gross, although I will admit some were very funny as well. The moral: proceed at your own risk.
This movie is packed with stars playing themselves. The core players, however, are Seth Rogen, who picks his friend Jay Baruchel up at the airport, where he's in visiting from Montreal; Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and James Franco. The film starts off where Seth brings Jay to a party at Franco's house, even though Jay isn't really keen on going; Seth wants to introduce Jay to everyone. Everyone except Jay is having a good time, and Jay runs off to the corner store to go buy cigarettes; Seth follows him. While there, the earth starts to shake, and bright lights beam people up to the sky, but Seth and Jay are not affected. They go back to Franco's house and then more signs of the "apocalypse" start to happen, with about 2/3 off the party falling into holes/cracks in the ground. The six main stars, however, manage to make it through, and they hole up in Franco's house and try to figure out both what is happening and how they will survive.
The horror part of the movie doesn't start until the halfway point, when a man's head is chopped off and rolls around on the ground (and we get to hear Craig Robinson emit a loud "girl"-scream!). From there, other events happen - I won't spoil everything, but in one part an actor gets exorcised and it's rather hilarious - and the crew starts to realize that this "apocalypse" is for real. What I liked about This is the End, though, is that it's always "tongue-in-cheek"; it knows it's ridiculous, and it plays that up during the entire film. Seth Rogen directed the movie with Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express), and it's funny to watch the celebs play themselves, or at least the version of themselves that they are reputed to be.
Maybe see this film, but if you like horror comedies with blood, language, and vulgarity thrown in, then you will probably love this movie. There's a ton of celeb cameos - we even see Rihanna and Mindy Kaling at one point - and a few surprise ones near the end that will make you laugh. There's definitely parts of the film that I'm not going to forget anytime soon, such as Michael Cera with two girls in James Franco's bathroom, where he's being serviced, so to speak, while sipping on a Capri Sun, as well as Emma Watson brandishing an ax and whacking Seth Rogen with it; one of the funniest lines in the film (which is also in the trailer) is Danny McBride bemoaning that "Hermione stole our drinks!" I went in to the movie with very low expectations and I ended up being pleasantly surprised; it's not a movie I would see again in the theater, but if I'm ever looking for a laugh, it's one I might rent on DVD - as long as I can fast-forward through the bloody parts.
This is the End is in theaters today, June 12th, and is rated R with a runtime of 107 minutes. 3 stars out of 5.
