Jusqu'à ce que la fin du monde nous sépare

Armageddon, doomsday, the final apocalypse. Ever since the beginning of time man has wondered how it will all end. Another great flood, a nuclear war or in this case an asteroid. Filmmakers have always done their best to exploit this basic fear we have of the termination of our existence in movies like Fail Safe, On The Beach and The Day After. I put this film right up there with them because of the awesome performances of Steve Carell and Keira Knightley as our hero and heroine who we know are doomed from the start. I have always admired Carell as a comic (Get Smart, Date Night). However, he proves here that he can handle drama with the rest of them as does Knightley. They both have very powerful monologues in this film where they talk of their lonely lives. Its so ironic that they both find joy and love in life when they are on the very edge of death.

Interesting concept but once the story plays out it isn't really all that much. But it is an entertaining bit.

The premise is that in the near future we spot an asteroid heading towards Earth, big enough that if it hits us then it will be the end of humanity as we know it. So a mission has been sent to ostensibly destroy it or divert it, to save the Earth.

Steve Carell is Dodge and he and his wife are sitting in their car, listening to a news report that sadly the mission has failed, there was a fire, the spaceship was destroyed, all were lost. In 21 days the asteroid will hit, there is nothing that can be done.

So with that as a set-up the movie examines how people react to that news, knowing they have exactly 3 weeks to live then it will be all over. Naturally it touches on some of the fringe behavior, guys who want to use their remaining time to have as much sex as possible, or party with alcohol and drugs, or just go through the streets looking and wreaking havoc. At a minimum, most quit going to work, gasoline runs short, commercial airlines quit flying.

I had difficulty discerning if this was intended as a dark comedy. For example, a TV news man would report, but end the session by saying they would continue to play their music programming. As if that mattered to anyone.

But Dodge is different. As soon as the bad news came, his wife got out of the car and fled. He realized quickly she had no love for him. As he tried to make sense of everything, he met a younger woman, Keira Knightley as Penny , an unstable sort from England, but wanted to get back and see her parents one more time. Dodge decided to help her. And that become "the rest of the movie." When it was over it was pleasant enough entertainment, maybe I though a bit about what I would do in a similar predicament, but ultimately it was a love story with a quite different catalyst.

SPOILERS: Dodge decided he would see if he could get to his estranged dad, a pilot, to fly Penny home. In the process his dad was able to say "I'm sorry" for everything that happened over the years. And, in a "Casablanca moment" Dodge put a sleeping Penny on the small plane, and right before he closed the door whispered to her "the love of my life." But a little later, when Dodge is back home, Penny shows up. She had asked that they return, she would rather be with Dodge at the end. As they lay in bed, we hear big rumblings, then everything goes dark.

There really isn't one aspect of the actual events of this story that isn't some kind of spoiler, the less known the better. It's better to watch this thing completely fresh. That's how I saw it and it made the experience far better it would seem. Without getting in to detail, the story itself starts off bizarre and it seems like they simply picked the wrong subject to try and make a dramedy about. Yet, getting to know and sympathize with Carell's character is what flat out makes the film. Keira Knightley is wonderful and this is probably the best thing I've ever seen her do.

The overall tone fights itself a LOT as it jumps from the morose to the absurd to events that just aren't logical. Still, since no one has faced the end of the world, what exactly is logical? They did respectfully touch on the aspect of faith but it struck me more that they went out of their way to avoid the subject for the most part. To me, that's playing it way too safe. They did that a lot with many subjects that you would expect to come up in an end of days film. Overall, the movie has heart and elicited real emotion from me.

We've seen dramatic and extreme post-apocalyptic thrillers almost as many times as we've survived the Rapture, and it is hard to imagine that anyone can interpret the theme in a way that would make a movie more enjoyable. However, none of the previous films starred Steve Carrell or stayed completely in the pre-apocalyptic world. As it turns out, these two facts make a huge difference.

Dodge (Carrell) learns that nothing can be done to prevent the imminent destruction of the world while in the car with his wife, Linda (Nancy Carrell, formerly Nancy Walls and hilarious without saying a word). Linda then literally runs away, and so begins the story of Dodge's terrible misfortune. He is a modern-day adult version of Charlie Brown – likable, but not extraordinary in any sense except for his ability to attract sadness. Seeking then shows how everyone else is coping with the news, and Dodge doesn't seem very interested in surfing, sex, or suicide, so he just meanders through the madness sipping his cough syrup. He probably would have done that for the entire three weeks left of his life were it not for a his neighbor Penny (Keira Knightley), a flighty girl trying to get a flight back to her family in England. The two escape a riot (and Penny's loser boyfriend, perfectly played by Adam Brody) and set out on an adventure so that Dodge can say goodbye to his high school sweetheart and Penny can get to England by way of Dodge's friend who owns a plane.

The commercials portray this film as more of a comedy, and it is delightfully funny in some spots, but this film is far more emotionally and intellectually stimulating than it is amusing. I remember thinking at the end of 2005's War of the Worlds, "I wish they had spent more time focusing on humanity." The human experience of facing the end of life is so complex and so unique to every individual, and Director Loren Scafaria succeeds in showing the despair, decadence, and delusions that people would definitely be wrapped up in were this to occur in real life.

Carrell is brilliant as usual with his effortless self-effacing humor. He seems to have worked on his deadpan skills as his funniest moments include reacting to crazy events with a blank stare or monotone comment. Knightley manages to be an effervescent and bubbly realist without being annoying, which makes Penny a completely plausible running buddy for Dodge, who can't take much more agitation. These two stars have a chemistry that allows Dodge to come out of his shell and live the last days of his life the way he wished he had lived all along. A few people live in less inspiring ways to awesome comedic effect. Elsa, Dodge's housekeeper, still diligently comes to clean his house and even instructs him to get more "Windows" while shaking a nearly empty bottle of glass cleaner. Warren (fellow Daily Show alum Rob Corddry) celebrates the end of responsibility by boozing it up and sharing his drinks freely, even with little kids. These scenes, however, are merely distractions from how Dodge and Penny learn more than they ever imagined about life and the world simply because it is all coming to an end. Despite the hokey-ness, I must admit that I got teary-eyed as the characters realized what matters most.

Focus Features does a great job of producing equally thought-provoking and heartstring-pulling films and Seeking is no exception. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and with any luck, you'll leave the theater thankful that you most likely have more than three weeks to make the most of your life.

Watching an American picture about the end of the world and finding that there is no concentration on things blowing up and exploding came as a welcome relief if not a surprise.

This film is a little gem of a black comedy with some drama and romanticism thrown in.

I only recognised two or three faces - but everyone of the players is good and the two leads are superb. The male lead is of a character not usually associated with the romantic and this brings out more of the warmth.

Quirky, offbeat, lovable, zany and intelligent are some of the words I would use to describe this entertainment - and entertain it certainly does.

If this picture comes this way - grab it, you will love it.