This Is the End

Cast: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen
Director: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen

When this was announced to be released, I knew I had to see it. I'm willing to bet a lot of people had to see it too because I caught one of the night's earlier show times and the entire theater was packed. I'm not a big fan of dirty humor, but with this cast, I knew what kind of material I'd be expecting. It certainly did not disappoint, even when conforming to the apocalyptic craze. In fact, it helped with their whole comedic craze. I'd say this now: the entire movie was entertaining! It had a ton of laughs and the chemistry of the cast was stupendous. I left the cinema with people who were applauding (the applauding part annoys me in theaters, sorry) and definitely were satisfied with what they saw.


Jay Baruchel was in LA visiting his friend, Seth Rogen. After all their fun, Seth suggests dropping by James Franco's house for a housewarming party he was throwing, which Jay reluctantly agreed to. At the party we get to see a lot of celebrities cameos, from Michael Cera to Rihanna, down to Paul Rudd. After feeling a bit left out from Seth's group, Jay headed out to a nearby store with Seth to buy something, when the apocalypse rained on them. The earth started shaking and blue lights from the sky started beaming people out of earth, and chaos ensues. When Seth and Jay return to the party, the apocalypse became full-blown, swallowing most of the celebrities. Seth and Jay were left alive, along with their friends, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride. Hilarity (and a bit of apocalyptic horror) ensue as the six people try to survive and fend of the monsters that reside outside the walls of Franco's house.

Humor aside, part of why this movie is funny and entertaining is the cast behind them all. Not only are they great comedians, but they're playing some version of themselves and they have chemistry! If they were playing different kinds of people, there has to be some character build up and whatnot, but they're loosely playing themselves so there's no pretense. They all worked great together, and had their own moments as well. Their backgrounds as actors were addressed as well, like Seth Rogen playing the same character over and over again (and his stint as Green Hornet as well), and Jonah Hill's nomination (Moneyball). One star didn't overpower the other in terms of lead cast (but it could be anyone on a technicality). They complimented each others performances and really made it an entertaining flick.

The scenes were hilarious! There's Jonah Hill trying to feel Jay included because he's Seth's connection to the past. Then there's the whole jizz scene between James Franco and Danny McBride. They were even having video confessions! And the cameos! The best cameos, are at the final parts of the flick. Seriously. Reports may have been giving nods to the ones at the party, but the best ones, you'd have to see. Since we mostly know who appears as a party goer, let's focus on that instead. Michael Cera was definitely not the usual nerd-geek type that he appears to be in his films, and has managed to steal all the scenes he was in. There was also Emma Watson who makes another appearance and robs the men out of their drinks.

The CGI used was good, but in some parts it can be pretty obvious that it was CGI. Even the monsters were part of the dirty humor, and it certainly did not skimp out on the gore (with blood and everything).  Some scenes really were surprising, because even if it is an all comedy film, they didn't skip out the whole apocalyptic theme and had me wondering how it was going to end. Everything was just appearing out of nowhere so nothing really is to be expected, sequential wise. My only qualm about it is that it felt sort of long, like 10 minutes longer than it was supposed to. Despite the comedy, there was some sort of scenic lull, but then it peaked right back up.

With all of that aside, this may have been the funniest movie I've seen this year. It's entertaining, and it had a lot of laughs. The guys were great, and this was something that paid off. It's been a long time since a raunchy comedy was done right, and this was it. They were in their element, and with the material Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote (based from a short film), it was guaranteed golden. I really liked how they were playing themselves, so there was a comfortable atmosphere, as they are all friends. It's an awesome movie and it seriously should not be missed.