This Is the End

A vanity project for a bunch of Hollywood's highest paid comedic actors, playing themselves in a "stoner comedy". So how do you make that good? By making it an hilarious, smart, insightful, satirical and scathing commentary on religion, celebrity and Los Angeles. And how do you make that successful? By making it a stoner comedy about a hapless group of actors saying and doing the stupidest things.

It actually starts out pretty slowly with a lame story being introduced. Jay Baruchel comes to LA to hang out with his friend Seth Rogen who wants to hang out with his friends James Franco, Jonah Hill and Craig Robinson, but Jay doesn't like his friends and he doesn't think that they like him. Sounds kind of lame doesn't it? The party at James Franco's house delivers the ridiculous, raunchy comedy which the target audience craves but it doesn't yet include the intelligence which the rest of the audience is applauding.

It seems like everybody in Hollywood is at James Franco's house. Michael Cera is doing coke, Jonah Hill is being friendly and everybody else is finding another drug to imbibe. While Jay and Seth are off to buy cigarettes, the Heavens open up and the Earth caves in. And then the real fun begins. Knowing the title of the film, or having read the bible, or really having seen any loose interpretation of the apocalypse, it's pretty obvious what is happening. And we get our first glimpse of the film's take on the celebrity culture and what it does (and what will eventually happen) to those at the center of it.

Our heroes aren't quite sure what's going on. Remember, they are actors in Hollywood. It's probably an earthquake, or it could be a zombie invasion, or it could be the end of the world as described in the New Testament's Revelation. But who believes that stuff?

The majority of the film takes place with our five actors holed up in James Franco's house – which is like a cement cave designed by himself since he's an artist. The jokes are vulgar, crass, silly but also incredibly insightful into who they are and the result is a perfectly written self-parody. You have to get past a lot of penis jokes, but once you do, you'll find an under-current tackling the issues of celebrity status but also of celebrities' biggest detractors, the religious congregation. I don't think "This Is the End" will be successfully duplicated any time soon, but I also don't foresee the apocalypse hitting any time soon.

Although 'This is the end' does not have the greatest storyline in the history of film, it is a very inventive movie in its own way. The fact that every actor and actress plays him or herself makes the movie quite original and refreshing. Besides that, there is also the fact that the makers took an overused theme, the end of the world, and made it completely their own.

'This is the end' hasn't failed a second to make me laugh. It is a very clever and entertaining comedy, with hilarious and dirty dialogues. I do have to admit, however, that the storyline can feel a little bit too ridiculous from time to time, even for this kind of movie. The acting in the movie was not that spectacular, but the actors involved were all born for this kind of movie.

For anyone who can truly appreciate a hilarious movie which is made specifically to humor and entertain people, and has no other hidden agenda whatsoever, this is definitely a must watch.

I don't know what all the bad reviews are about. I loved the idea of using the actors' real names but creating alternate personalities. The humour is great, and special effects are rather realistic! Also, I particularly loved Michael Cera and Paul Rudd's appearances! Great job to the writers, directors and actors. For me, this was the perfect combination of comedy, horror and sci-fi. There was a sense of doom throughout, especially with the wide shots of LA, which made me feel quite uncomfortable, but then there was plenty of comic relief.

I don't often laugh at movies, but if you're looking for a relaxed, light comedy, I would recommend this film.

Alas, it is the fate of so many comedies - the first half of the movie is great and funny, the second half is 'meh' as the director tries to figure out how to resolve the story lines. I laughed a lot in the first half of this movie - it's so over-the-top and ridiculous that you can't help but laugh. If I were rating the 1st half, I'd give it about a 9/10.

The second half was a different story. Though it had a handful of funny moments, it seemed to drag and was a predictable mess IMO - maybe a 5/10. The first-half comedy was enough to make up for some of that, so I give it a 7/10 overall.

As the title of this review says - a little too much stupid. But then again, it certainly has its moments, no doubt about that.