This Is The End

First things first, I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of this film over a month before it is released in theaters. Free tickets are never wasted on me! It was a very funny movie, for the first half, but after that it diverged into cheap laughs.

Following originally just two friends it becomes a conglomerate of nearly every relevant comedic actor of the times. All basically playing themselves makes it that much more entertaining and the cameos that happen within the first half hour provide some of the funniest moments of the entire movie! These cameos were funny mostly because of their gruesome conclusions within the first thirty minutes. You don't know who is safe and who will die, but it makes it that much more entertaining.

Story-wise it's very farfetched, but so are most end of the world movies. This is the End follows these actors playing themselves and having to deal with things like not liking an old good friend's new friends. However, when placed in a comedic actor's house it seems a bit misguided. As I said before the beginning was hilarious.

The acting overall is fine, but I can't believe that playing yourself in a movie is particularly difficult. Two of the best characters were Craig Robinson and Danny McBride, solely for the heart and absurdity, respectively, they both brought to the screen. James Franco proved that his role in Pineapple Express wasn't a fluke and that he actually has the panache to make people laugh, especially when he hints at a certain love or desire for another of the actors. Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogan, and Jonah Hill fill out the poster above and help make the movie move along. Jay's and Seth's friendship being the main motivation for a lot of the events.

Many of the laughs throughout the movie came from each of the actors ripping on another one. Tearing apart a past movie or simply just messing with one another. Other than that it seemed to have a fairly apparent agenda of shoving religion down the audience's throat. One of my biggest pet peeves of movies. I don't want to go to the theater for a sermon or even a bold political statement. If it can be pulled off without being so explicitly I never really mind, but this is far from that. It not only tries to shove religion down your throat, but it plunges into what many parody movies do the indelible failure that was Epic Movie.

Overall though, if you like stupid comedies, this will be right up your alley. Ending in a way completely unfit for the movie, yet even more rampant with some awesome cameos, This is the End could have been so much more than it turned out to be. If you're looking for a comedic take on end of the world movies you'll have to wait about three months, but it'll be worth it. World's End starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost from Shaun of the Dead comes out on August 23rd and I'm sure it will blow this movie out of the water. Mostly because I'm betting they tried to get This is the End out before World's End to try and steal some of its thunder. Unfortunately for the producers it will probably fall short.

5/10