This is the End

I have been waiting for this movie for quite some time. Ever since I first watched the short film Jay and Seth VS. the Apocalypse I thought it would be awesome if they did a feature length version. Eventually I got my wish. The trailers were hilarious and if nothing else, I trust these guys to make very funny movies when they have control over it. Plus, if you know anything about me, you know I am a sucker for all things META and what could be more META than a bunch of celebrities playing versions of themselves in a film where most of them are going to die? Nothing could be more META.

Jay Baruchel hates Los Angeles, so he still lives up in Canada and only coms to LA every so often to see his old friend Seth Rogen. Baruchel does not care much for Rogen's new friends- James Franco, Jonah Hill etc- but he agrees to go to a party anyway. Rogen promises to not lave his side at the party, but things are not going well as Baruchel is kind of a hipster dick to all of the celebrities and Rogen is a bit too enamored with the celebrity life. The party is at James Franco's new digs and the house is awesome. Franco is kind of an artsy tool, but he has all kinds of famous friends. Michael Cera is a coked out asshole, Kevin Hart just laughs at everything, Rhianna does not appreciate being slapped on the ass and Jason Segal does not care much for the sitcom tropes of his television show. Then you have Jonah Hill who everyone says is the sweetest guy and who is trying so hard to get Baruchel to like him, but Baruchel is not having it. Craig Robinson leads them all in a sing along of a song called "Take your Panties off" and then is when Baruchel has had enough. He and Rogen leave to get cigarettes and Baruchel tells Rogen he thinks he is just going to head back to Rogen's place and chill. Before they can really fight about it an Earthquake happens and Baruchel sees a bunch of people get sucked up into the sky through blue beams of light. Panic ensues, but when they get back Franco's place the celebrities have not been disturbed. Then suddenly, the house starts to shake and they all run outside, but most are quickly gobbled up by a giant sinkhole. Franco, Rogen, Baruchel, and Craig Robinson make it back to the house, and are now trapped with minimal provisions. The next morning they wake up to find more of their provisions have been cooked and eaten by Danny McBride who had passed out early the night before and had no idea what was going on. No one knows exactly what is happening, but Baruchel believes it is the end of days and that the blue lights beamed all of the good people up to heaven and that everyone left was not worthy. Baruchel and Robinson come up with a plan to try and do good works so they can eventually be beamed up to heaven.

If you are looking for a real plot in this movie, do not bother. Most of the movie is just a bunch of hilarious dudes sitting around having crazy stuff happen and reacting to it in a pretty funny way. Once the cabin fever sets in, things get funny. I am typically not a fan of Danny Mcbride, but he kind of steals this movie. There are wonderful cameos and I got a certain joy watching Cera, Hill and McLovin all together again in a shot scene. Cera comes off looking the worst, which is funny because everyone always talks about how sweet he is, but here he is a total nightmare of a guy and it will be tough to get the image of him without pants in the bathroom with two girls on their knees servicing him. Channing Tatum's part in this is also going to be difficult to erase from my memory. Emma Watson has probably the best part in the film and she is truly magnetic. It was weird hearing her with full harsh accent, but she gets some killer stuff in the film. The core, though, really shines. I enjoyed the insider look at the conflicts of the celebrities because I feel like some of it is probably real. Rogen and Baruchel probably actually have a weird relationship since Rogen has been embraced by Hollywood and Baruchel, while very talented, is a bit of an outsider in this world. I wonder how much truth there was in their confrontations. Jonah Hill just cracks me up. He is one of those guys who just knows how to read a line perfectly, or make a face to crack me up. He might be my favorite of this group of guys and here he does not disappoint. He has all kinds of great things to do and the Exorcism of Jonah Hill is probably the second strongest sequence behind Pineapple Express two.
Pineapple Express 2 is something that comes up a few times in the movie. Early in the part Franco and Rogen talk about making a sequel, and once the guys are trapped in the house, they do a low budget sequel and it is the high point of the film. It is hilarious, kind of inspired and weirdly effective. If anything, I was kind of hoping for more insider talk from the film and the second MIA's "Paper Planes" came on, I knew I was in for a treat for this sequence.

That is not to say everything in the film works. I am not such a fan of vomit humor, or bathroom humor, so there are a few moments that grossed me out instead of making me laugh. The third act drags on for a few minutes too long, and loses some of the humorous punch, but it does not stop the movie from being quite hilarious. There is a cameo during the credits that is completely random, totally hilarious and in a way mind boggling. If you have seen Superbad, or Knocked up, or any of those types of movies, you have an idea of what is going on here. There are many scenes where it is just people talking and these actors are so familiar with each other and have such great timing, it never stops being funny. I know I missed a ton of stuff due to my laugh, so I will definitely need to check this out again. There is also something silly about James Franco keeping props from all of his movies in his basement. Franco actually looks like he might be having more fun than anyone throughout the entire film. He has such a bizarre public image, and he certainly plays up that kind of pretentious image with all the art in the house, but you can also tell he does not take himself as seriously as people think he does and he is clearly down for whenever his friends need him and he knows how to poke fun at his own image. I think Franco is having an incredible year at the movies, and this is just another great thing from him.

This is the End has better CGI than I would have expected, constant hilarity, and even makes some interesting points about celebrity culture and the fascination we have with it. It gets a bunch of funny people and sticks them in a house with each and turns the camera on. What could possibly be bad about that? No, not every joke hits the mark, but the ones that do, hit them out of the ballpark. There is also some interesting dialog about religion and God and good works. At least I found it interesting. This is certainly one of the funnier movies of the last few years, in my opinion and I would definitely be interested in more movies from these guys playing themselves.