Juvenile humor rules the day, but when This is the End isn’t overdoing it it’s quite funny. Of course, this is the disposable kind of humor that’s valuable for about a week and then forgotten, but if you’re looking for a few laughs at the expense of some of today’s most notable comedic actors then this 107-minute apocalyptic comedy should satisfy despite a few limitations.
Every actor in the film plays themselves. So Seth Rogen is Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel is Jay Baruchel and on down the line, including James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera, Emma Watson, Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, David Krumholtz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Rihanna, Paul Rudd, Channing Tatum and I’m sure some others that I’ve probably forgotten to include, but I think you get the point.
The majority of the names above make their appearance and subsequently die in the film’s opening third, which takes place during a party at James Franco’s new Hollywood mansion. Baruchel is in town visiting Rogen and after an afternoon of video games, weed, 3-D movies and more weed, they head over to Franco’s to check out the nightlife.
Baruchel portrays himself as a Hollywood outcast, looking on and rejecting everything Los Angeles and Hollywood stands for. Soon, however, he finds himself forced into the company of Rogen, Franco, Robinson, Hill, McBride and, his mortal enemy, Jonah Hill as beams of blue light shoot from the heavens, sucking people into the sky and the ground opens up, swallowing those not deemed worthy of the Rapture as well as spawning demons from below.
Trapped inside Franco’s mansion, these seven actors, must contend with the end of the world going on outside and the cabin fever that begins to set in on the inside. The need for food, possessed friends and an axe-wielding Emma Watson all must be dealt with.
The comedy ranges from the hilarity of a coked out Michael Cera to the absolutely grating Danny McBride. In fact, as much as I enjoy the first and third acts in this film, the McBride-focused second act nearly kills it entirely. I don’t know what it is about the “white trash” schtick McBride is known for that people find funny, but someone swearing just to swear and talking about “jizzing” all over the walls for five minutes isn’t funny to me.
Similar comedy that just doesn’t know when to quit involves Robinson admitting in the confessional to drinking his own urine, which is promptly followed by Rogen peeing into his own mouth. The joke wasn’t very funny to begin with and it is only made worse with Rogen’s bit of gross-out humor.
I’m also not sure what the fascination with the genitalia of fantastical creatures is, but Rogen and co-director/co-writer Evan Goldberg feel it’s not only necessary to offer the erect penis of a demon looking to possess Jonah Hill, but you also get a towering, seven-headed demon and his lava-infused penis swinging low as he stomps across the burning carcass of what was once Hollywood. It’s a visual gag, I get it, but in a time where people constantly wonder why women are naked on screen more then men isn’t the answer obvious… Apparently the sight of a penis will send most audiences into fits of laughter.
It’s this kind of humor that makes This is the End less than memorable, but the rest of the film remains entirely enjoyable.
Beyond my mentioning of Cera, who really steals the film’s opening third, Robinson is funny throughout, particularly his commentary on how hard it is to be an actor and why they deserve to earn their salaries. “Yeah, like when you say it’s hot when it’s actually cold. On the beach in your drawers, talkin’ ’bout everybody surfin’.” The last time I laughed this hard at a Robinson moment was when he said, “What? Han Solo ain’t never had no sex with Princess Leia in a Star War!” in Kevin Smith‘s Zack and Miri Make a Porno. The guy is hilarious and plays the innocent victim to perfection.
Robinson also wears a “Take Your Panties Off!!!” t-shirt throughout the film’s entirety and if you listen closely, the “Carmina Burana“-esque score chants the saying throughout. Granted, we’re talking about serious lowbrow humor here, but some of it is well executed by legitimately funny actors, and while the film could have probably been about 20 minutes shorter, I thought the ending was perfect.
This is the End is a movie you probably will have forgotten completely by the end of the year, but it has plenty of legitimately funny moments to make it well worth purchasing a ticket if you’re in the mood for comedy. Certainly it sets the bar low with potty humor leading the way, but I suspect if you tend to avoid that kind of comedy you aren’t going to be buying a ticket in the first place.
