8.5/10
The strength of This is the End, of course, depends on how much the idea of spending 2 hours with exaggerated versions of the actors involved appeals to you. If you didn't like these guys before, you certainly won't be any more endeared to them after watching this movie.
Despite the potential for being a massively self-indulgent vanity project goof-off for all involved (ala Ocean's Twelve), Rogen & co. never lose sight of the big idea: be funny. I laughed a lot during this movie, more than I expected to. And while it stops short of any big ideas or coalescing into a major statement about anything, I found that, like Pineapple Express, it has a lot of real and true (and funny) things to say about the dynamics of male friendships, and they crop up in surprisingly poignant ways. The plot meanders a little and the apocalypse, while impressively mounted, doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense (why does Jonah Hill get possessed again?) but the comedy comes fast enough that the small details are easily overlooked.
For me, James Franco and Jonah Hill stole the show, but I also have to give special mention to Jay Baruchel, who I've never really liked in anything before but was excellent here as the straight man.
No comments:
Post a Comment