This is the End
1.5/4
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride
Rated R for Crude and Sexual Content Throughout, Brief Graphic Nudity, Pervasive Language, Drug Use and Some Violence
If there's any movie that has a good premise, it's "This is the End." It's about celebrities (playing themselves) facing the apocalypse. The pitch line alone made me want to see the movie. Unfortunately, it's just another in a long line of disappointments and dreadful "comedies" in 2013, which has so far suffered the curse of "13."
Jay Baruchel is visiting Seth Rogen. Jay doesn't like LA, but he's friends with Rogen, so to make him feel better, Rogen has gathered all of Jay's favorite munchies, and they proceed to get stoned. That's when Seth suggest they head over to James Franco's place, where he's having a house warming party for his new pad. So the two head over there and we meet other celebrities like a coked-out Michael Cera (the idea of which is more funny than it actually is), Rhianna, Kevin Hart and Jason Segel. That's when the apocalypse strikes, and everyone except Jay, Seth, James, Craig, Jonah and Danny (who sneaked into the party uninvited and shows up the next morning) is either dead or pulled up by a big blue light in the sky.
While the film occasionally gets a joke that lands, in general "This is the End" is a dreadful experience. It's not funny, it's overlong and it's boring as hell. About the only nice thing I can say is that the special effects are impressive.
These days, if a comedy wants to make money, it has to be crude and gross. The lines of the R-rating have to be pushed as far as the MPAA will allow (and given their kowtowing to big studios, it's an impressive distance if you've got the dough). But the key to success is not being more disgusting than the last movie, it's being gross while getting a laugh. That's what eludes everyone involved in this misfire. There's a difference between being gross and funny and just being gross.
In Roger Ebert's review of the Steve Martin vehicle, "The Jerk," he explained why he didn't find it funny. "It seems to me," he wrote, "that there are two basic approaches to any kind of comedy, and in a burst of oversimplification I'll call them the Funny Hat and the Funny Logic approaches. The difference here is elementary: In the first, we're supposed to laugh because the comic is wearing the runny hat, and in the second it's funny because of his reasons for wearing the funny hat."
That's the key here. This is really a one-joke movie. Goldberg and Rogen appear to think that anything is automatically hilarious because these celebrities are playing themselves. But they're not doing anything funny. Part of the reason is that we expect these people to be gross and funny. All of them have appeared in movies for Judd Apatow, and he's the new king of gross-out comedies. It might have been funnier if instead of these guys, we'd have people like Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, or any other high class actors (at least for a while...the script is too weak to sustain a short film). That's why the scenes with Michael Cera are amusing (as far as amusing goes in this movie). We expect Cera to play the awkward teenager, not a coked up sex fiend.
It wouldn't surprise me to learn that much of the dialogue is improvised. In fact, I'm sure it is. But none of the actors say anything funny. They just mug the camera and squabble about this and that. The plot ideas aren't particularly clever and the riffs don't go anywhere.
Finally, the problem is that the characters, such as they are, are undeveloped. Because the cast members are playing versions of themselves things are a little different, but the same principle still applies. We don't know who these people are, so when they do something strange for comic effect, how can we laugh? Rogen and Goldberg missed a great opportunity here to poke fun at their own images. But the images of the cast members are so similar that they're interchangeable. If you called Jonah Hill Fred, it wouldn't have made much difference. You have to have something to make fun of. The only interesting characters are Emma Watson (because she does things we don't expect) and Danny McBride because he is the sort-of villain in the piece (and he's not particularly interesting).
This is such a waste.
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride
Rated R for Crude and Sexual Content Throughout, Brief Graphic Nudity, Pervasive Language, Drug Use and Some Violence
If there's any movie that has a good premise, it's "This is the End." It's about celebrities (playing themselves) facing the apocalypse. The pitch line alone made me want to see the movie. Unfortunately, it's just another in a long line of disappointments and dreadful "comedies" in 2013, which has so far suffered the curse of "13."
Jay Baruchel is visiting Seth Rogen. Jay doesn't like LA, but he's friends with Rogen, so to make him feel better, Rogen has gathered all of Jay's favorite munchies, and they proceed to get stoned. That's when Seth suggest they head over to James Franco's place, where he's having a house warming party for his new pad. So the two head over there and we meet other celebrities like a coked-out Michael Cera (the idea of which is more funny than it actually is), Rhianna, Kevin Hart and Jason Segel. That's when the apocalypse strikes, and everyone except Jay, Seth, James, Craig, Jonah and Danny (who sneaked into the party uninvited and shows up the next morning) is either dead or pulled up by a big blue light in the sky.
While the film occasionally gets a joke that lands, in general "This is the End" is a dreadful experience. It's not funny, it's overlong and it's boring as hell. About the only nice thing I can say is that the special effects are impressive.
These days, if a comedy wants to make money, it has to be crude and gross. The lines of the R-rating have to be pushed as far as the MPAA will allow (and given their kowtowing to big studios, it's an impressive distance if you've got the dough). But the key to success is not being more disgusting than the last movie, it's being gross while getting a laugh. That's what eludes everyone involved in this misfire. There's a difference between being gross and funny and just being gross.
In Roger Ebert's review of the Steve Martin vehicle, "The Jerk," he explained why he didn't find it funny. "It seems to me," he wrote, "that there are two basic approaches to any kind of comedy, and in a burst of oversimplification I'll call them the Funny Hat and the Funny Logic approaches. The difference here is elementary: In the first, we're supposed to laugh because the comic is wearing the runny hat, and in the second it's funny because of his reasons for wearing the funny hat."
That's the key here. This is really a one-joke movie. Goldberg and Rogen appear to think that anything is automatically hilarious because these celebrities are playing themselves. But they're not doing anything funny. Part of the reason is that we expect these people to be gross and funny. All of them have appeared in movies for Judd Apatow, and he's the new king of gross-out comedies. It might have been funnier if instead of these guys, we'd have people like Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, or any other high class actors (at least for a while...the script is too weak to sustain a short film). That's why the scenes with Michael Cera are amusing (as far as amusing goes in this movie). We expect Cera to play the awkward teenager, not a coked up sex fiend.
It wouldn't surprise me to learn that much of the dialogue is improvised. In fact, I'm sure it is. But none of the actors say anything funny. They just mug the camera and squabble about this and that. The plot ideas aren't particularly clever and the riffs don't go anywhere.
Finally, the problem is that the characters, such as they are, are undeveloped. Because the cast members are playing versions of themselves things are a little different, but the same principle still applies. We don't know who these people are, so when they do something strange for comic effect, how can we laugh? Rogen and Goldberg missed a great opportunity here to poke fun at their own images. But the images of the cast members are so similar that they're interchangeable. If you called Jonah Hill Fred, it wouldn't have made much difference. You have to have something to make fun of. The only interesting characters are Emma Watson (because she does things we don't expect) and Danny McBride because he is the sort-of villain in the piece (and he's not particularly interesting).
This is such a waste.
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