I’m sick of the apocalypse. I wish it would actually happen just so we could stop getting post-apocalyptic movies, TV shows, and video games. But this tired genre still has some juice in it. This Is the End was hysterical. It’s not the greatest comedy ever made mainly due to its constant bathroom humor but This Is the End is still one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in the past few years due to the solid performances and direction.
This Is the End has Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel going to a party at James Franco’s house. The Earth starts to literally fall apart with sinkholes and earthquakes left and right and many of Franco’s guests getting killed. Seth, Jay, James, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and Danny McBride board up Franco’s house and while waiting to be rescued, they try their best to survive the apocalypse.
While the apocalypse thing has been done to death, this movie gets props for originality due to the actors playing fictionalized versions of themselves in an apocalypse. It’s awesome seeing the actors playing the characters they almost always seem to be cast in especially during an apocalypse. It’s a film really like no other so that reason alone makes it worth the price of admission.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgTCTGm1iMA[/youtube]
What’s also worth the price is the amount of times you’ll laugh during the movie. It takes an effort for me to laugh and I was laughing out loud at many points during the film. It might not be the smartest humor with lots of bathroom jokes but it still had me laughing. The best movie I can compare it to in terms of its humor is to Ted. Ted’s jokes were mostly “inappropriate” and not really for everybody. That’s what This Is the End was like. Funny as hell…for those that enjoy this type of humor.
When I review an action movie, I don’t just judge the action. When I review a drama, I don’t just review the performances and screenplay. When I review a comedy, I don’t just review the laughs. I look at the direction and the camera shots. I’m not a snob when it comes to this type of thing but it’s something I look at. That being said, This Is the End had great direction. You might ask, “how hard is it to direct a comedy?” but This Is the End also has quite a few visual effects in it. It took some talent to direct This Is the End and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg do a great job.
THE VERDICT
Just like the movie, this was a pretty straightforward review. All you need to know going into This Is the End is that the actors were great and the movie is pretty damn funny if you don’t mind some “childish’ humor.
For reviews and more from me, Petey Oneto, you can check out my blog but be sure to check back with Resident Entertainment for more of my posts in the future.