Based upon the short film "Jay And Seth Versus The Apocalypse" by Jason Stone
Screen Story and Screenplay Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
**** (four stars)
"Cat calling, love balling, fussing and cussing
Top billing now is killing
For peace no-one is willing
Kind of make you get that feeling"
-Curtis Mayfield
"(Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go"
Every now and again, there is a film that comes along that I just have not a whit of an interest in seeing and somehow, someway over time, my curiosity piques upwards and upwards to the point where it cannot be denied any longer and after seeing the film in question, I kick myself for not having seen it sooner. "This Is The End," the directorial debut of writing partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg is precisely that type of film.
While I have been a fan of Rogen's ever since the release of Writer/Director Judd Apatow's "Knocked Up" (2007) and then, travelling backwards through to the television glory of Apatow and Paul Feig's "Freaks And Geeks" as well as Apatow's own "Undeclared," there is indeed a sameness to Seth Rogen's performances that can either work to his advantage in films like Apatow's "Funny People" (2009) and Director Jonathan Levine's "50/50"(2011) or just grow to be painfully wearisome as in Director Michel Gondry's "The Green Hornet" (2011). When I first heard about "This Is The End," starring Rogen plus his friends and frequent collaborators James Franco, Danny McBride and Jonah Hill, I just figured the film was going to be yet another "hanging around" film, copious filled with all manner of profanities peppered with narcotially and scatologically fueled humor and I just wanted to take a pass, fearing that this would have existed as nothing more than a "been there, done that" exercise. Oh, how wrong I was.
Yes, "This Is The End" is indeed a "hanging around" movie copiously filled with profanities peppered with narcotically an scatologically fueled humor but Rogen and Goldberg have raised the stakes to their highest pitch in what may not only be the most self-referential comedy I have seen since Writer/Director Kevin Smith's "Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001) and definitely the most inventively raucous comedy I have seen since the likes of Director Steve Pink's wildly vulgar "Hot Tub Time Machine" (2009). I would actually place this film as existing in the same neighborhood as Smith's "Dogma" (1999) and even the dual brass rings of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) and "Monty Python's Life Of Brian" (1979). That is high praise of course, but allow me to assure you that "This Is The End" is a ruthless, no-holds barred, take no prisoners, laugh out loud and fall down on the theater floor comedy, the likes of which are in profound rarity these days. It is a film loaded with one surprise after another as Rogen and Goldberg have at long last fulfilled the promise made by their terrific screenwriting work for Apatow and Director Greg Mottola's hysterical "Superbad" (2007). Even higher praise that that? You got it. I think "This Is The End" is one of the best films of 2013. How about that?
Playing off of the expectations that I and I am certain many of you have for Seth Rogen, "This Is The End" begins with Rogen picking up best friend Jay Baruchel (playing himself) from the airport to spend a long awaited weekend together. As the twosome walk through the airport, Seth is accosted by a "fan" armed with a camera who admonishes him for his lack of acting depth and questioning when he would ever give a real performance. After a car ride where the friends argue about the dangers of gluten and a full afternoon of pot smoking and video game playing on Seth's 3D television, Seth invites Jay to attend a party at James Franco's house, an invitation that makes Jay feel wary as he just wanted to have the weekend with Seth to themselves, and also due to the fact that he cannot stand Seth's more famous friends.
Reluctantly, Jay agrees and the twosome arrive at the house party which is filled top to bottom with drinks, drugs, debauchery and many celebrities like Rhianna, Jason Segal, Michael Cera, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Emma Watson and many, many others. After a spell, and feeling increasingly out of place, Jay decides to leave the party on the pretense of purchasing a pack of cigarettes. Seth accompanies him and while in the drug store, Jay, Seth and all around them suddenly experience what sounds to be like a sonic boom, followed by what appears to be the greatest earthquake to ever hit Los Angeles. While Seth is covered in rubble, Jay witnesses several strands of glistening blue light plunging down from the heavens, enveloping several people and raising them all through the sky. Rousing Seth and racing back to James Franco's house from the constant carnage, chaos and destruction that is raining down upon them, a massive sinkhole opens up in front of Franco's home, swallowing up nearly all of Franco's party guests, leaving only Seth, Jay, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and Franco himself safely inside. Believing that they will all soon be rescued (because they are famous actors), the quintet hole up, take inventory of all of their supplies and food and decide to wait it out. Unfortunately, no rescue ever arrives...and Jay begins to fear the worst as he believes that what has occurred has not been a massive earthquake but in actuality, The Rapture itself.
In a cinematic environment where impersonal, homogeneous slabs of entertainment designed for bland mass appeal rule the day, "This Is The End" is the brilliant brick being launched through that stagnant motion picture window. It is a film that constantly defies expectations, consistently keeps you off guard through comedy, terror and even some sharp theological debates, while it cheerfully breaks all of the rules via a biting inventiveness that is supremely refreshing to experience. With this one film, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
have proven themselves to be an R rated comedy film writing/directing force to be reckoned with, showing every other filmmaker these days (who is not Judd Apatow), exactly how to make a hedonistic film that hits essentially every single target it aims for.
"This Is The End" is cheerfully, and I would also say proudly vulgar, as much as you would expect from Rogen and Goldberg because they fully understand that just saying dirty words and doing reprehensible things in and of themselves are not inherently funny. They understand that they do have a story to tell and characters to create and within those situations and motivations the jokes and vulgarities will spring forth...and man, do they spring forth as we are subjected to riffs that go as far as who masturbated into the last porn magazine all the way to cannibalism and who just may unfortunately be giving off a "rapey vibe" to the axe wielding Emma Watson who is hiding in a nearby room. Rogen, Goldberg and the entire cast know the notes and the music for this style of comedy and they make even the most gratuitous gross out gags work triumphantly.
By making "This Is The End" essentially the ultimate meta-comedy film, we are just blessed with a cast who are outrageously game with mocking themselves and their silver screen/public media personas, plus issues of vanity, superiority and insecurity to their most extreme. Seth Rogen wisely plays to his strengths and allows the remainder of the cast the ample room to strut their stuff. Jay Baruchel's sensitivity carries the film on its sense of goodwill among the voluminous nastiness, making him and Rogen the straight men to the hedonism and annihilation that surrounds them. Jonah Hill's unctuous superiority combined with his duplicitous and nearly effeminate niceties are as unpredictable as they are hilarious (I loved his prayer late in the film..."God, it's me Jonah Hill...from 'Moneyball'"). Craig Robinson's sly deliveries are devastatingly funny and Danny McBride nearly steals the film as he plays the film's id, the person whom you would never want to crash your party let alone live out the end of days with. He is feral, ferocious, dangerous, devilish and just plain unstoppable. the already excellent film ascends to greater heights once he makes his grand entry.
As for James Franco...all is forgiven. This is exactly what we should have seen in his overly bland and even miscast work in Sam Raimi's "Oz The Great And Powerful" earlier this year, as Franco shows off his daredevil rogue-ish persona to terrific effect from the moment he appears on screen all the way through to his shocking final moments. And to that end, I must give Rogen and Goldberg great credit for their set design work as Franco's apartment is nothing less than an extension of his (perceived) massively pretentious ego from the props and costumes from his past films, wall artwork and the giant penis statue that looks like it was stolen from the set of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" (1971)!
Speaking of shocking, here is where "This Is The End" transcends its own comedy and becomes something truly special. I loved that no matter how ridiculous and vile the cast behaves for our comedic benefit, Rogen and Goldberg always play the apocalypse as a real event with real physical and spiritual consequences, making the movie a much, much darker affair than I anticipated the film to be. I was also deeply surprised at how well Rogen and Goldberg were able to wrench large amounts of genuine tension and scares into the proceedings, which often were screamingly hilarious. The combination of comedy and graphic violence is a very fine line to walk and one they handled awkwardly with their script for Director David Gordon Green's "Pineapple Express" (2008). With "This Is The End," they walked that line terrifically and while not nearly as professionally skilled, this film also made me feel as if I was witnessing something that could exist in the same universe as something like Writer/Director John Landis' classic "An American Werewolf In London" (1981), a film which merged comedy and horror seamlessly and never squandering a thing in either category.
From a more horror film standpoint, the frame work of having the group trapped inside James Franco's house was a masterstroke as it kept the actors doing what they do best, talking and riffing, while laying a terrifying foundation as having the nightmare of the world's oblivion outside of the house as well as something unseen for much of the film. One minute, the cast is spewing one vulgarity after another and without warning, Rogen and Goldberg keep jerking the rug out from under us, reminding us that no matter how much fun we are having, the world is indeed ending and there's no way out unless...
I also have to give it to Rogen and Goldberg for even attempting to not only play The Rapture as real but have the spiritual leanings of the story actually carry some real weight as the cast has to deal with the fact that despite the fact that they are actors who bring joy to us common-folk through their movies, they just might not be worthy of finding their way into paradise as their extreme amounts of pettiness, spitefulness, avarice, vanity, lusts, and all around horrible behavior continuously keeps them in their own way. It's sort of like Director Harold Ramis' "Groundhog Day" (1993) via the fire and brimstone of the Old Testament. Seriously, I did find those sequences more than a little stirring when the cast, once they were all fully convinced that spiritual Armageddon was occurring, discussed what it actually meant that none of those bright blue lights ever came down from the skies for them. Like the excellent novel The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, "This Is The End" boldly inquires what does it mean to be left behind to suffer in a gradually disintegrating existence when others were able to be collected into the afterlife? What does it mean to sacrifice and to be selfless instead of selfish? Most films, especially R rated comedies, wouldn't even attempt to go into this arena but Rogen and Goldberg do and without blinking an eye in the process.
After reading all of this, I am certain that you may have decided if this is a film for you or not. I do understand if it is not. But I cannot stress enough how thrilling it was to see a film that just broke all of the conventions and rules so gleefully as "This Is The End" accomplished. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have re-set the creative bar for themselves with a film that kind of merges Ivan Reitman's "Ghostbusters" (1984) with William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" (1973), and skewers the numbingly narcissistic media "reality" culture of "The Real World" and "Big Brother" to shattering effect, while being wholly original in the process.
Next month, Writer/Director Edgar Wright returns with his own apocalyptic comedy "The World's End," so I guess I cannot truly say that there is nothing else like "This Is The End" playing at the theaters. But even so, not being able to make that statement doe snot in anyway take away even a modicum of the greatness Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg placed on display in "This Is The End."
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