This Is the End: Movie Review

This Is the End: Movie Review

Cast: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Emma Watson, Danny McBride and Michael Cera
Director: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

In this latest comedy to hit our screens, Hollywood has to deal with the end of the world.

Nope, we're not talking a bad review - but the actual apocalypse itself - and all that entails.

Seth Rogen plays Seth Rogen, and Jay Baruchel plays Jay Baruchel - the two have been buddies for a while and the movie begins with Jay coming to LA, a place that he despises to visit. After the pair have got caught up (translation: smoked a lot of weed and played computer games), Seth takes Jay, against his will, to James Franco's house-warming party. (All of the celebs involved are playing versions of themselves - or their perceived self in the media).

And that's when it starts to get gnarly as the end of the world comes a-knocking - and five of the remaining Hollywood acting elite (Franco, Rogen, Baruchel, Jonah Hill, and The Office's Craig Robinson) decide to rough it out in Franco's home...

But pretty soon, they realise they've got no choice but to leave the house - and face whatever is out there.

Building on short film, Jay and Seth vs The Apocalypse, This Is The End is a tasteless movie comedy of almost Biblical proportions.

Riffing on the ties that bind and divide the divas, it throws energy and more laughs your way than you would have expected from the premise of five Hollywood celebs being forced to deal with the apocalypse and some serious self examination.

The banter between the quintet ranges from the self-obsessed to the narcissistic, and then into meta territory as they start to question why it's all happening.

Rogen and Baruchel impress as the duo whose friendship has taken a battering because of Jay's refusal to spend time in LA amongst Seth's new crowd. Sure, the occasionally innuendo-laden dialogue takes a trip into the crass and depraved - especially once Danny McBride shows up but it doesn't stop the laughs from coming thick and fast. Watch out for cameos at the start because when the bad stuff happens, these celebs aren't afraid to bid farewell in unforgettable ways.

Some impressive FX work draws from Wrath of the Titans to flesh out the reality of the end of the world, but it adds an epic feel to this low-brow but incredibly funny night out at the movies - despite feeling a little overlong during the final third.

This Is The End finishes up on a musical note which is as random and throwaway as everything which has gone before on this journey of self-awareness, redemption with lashings of selfishness - but to be honest, you couldn't have it any other way in this piece which urges you to check your brain at the door. A riotous night out for an admittedly guilty pleasure - but it's the first comedy in a while to make the end of the world seem like a great place to be.

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