This Is The End

 Famous for his foul-mouthed and crude 'stoner' comedies, lead actor Seth Rogen is back with his latest attempt to put his competition to shame with lavish 'dick' jokes and inappropriate humour. Helmed usually by fan favourite director, Judd Apatow, Evan Goldberg instead takes the driving seat, quite noticeably too brandishing humour similar to that of his past written 'Pineapple Express' being constantly 'in your face' but always hilarious.

Written in a unique style, this is the end sees the famous comedy actors (Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, James Franco, to name just a few) playing caricatured versions of themselves in the setting of the 'end of the world'. Reluctantly following Seth to James Franco’s house warming party the story largely follows Jay Baruchel and his relationship with Seth Rogen, ultimately proving to be an oddly touching one amidst crude comedy that screams otherwise. Immediately the film is entertaining as we witness a plethora of our favourite comedians act as themselves interacting seamlessly with those around them. Ignoring the main six actors in the majority of the film, actors such as Jason Segal, Kevin Heart and Michael Cera are all invited with Cera being the most notable comedian being a total exaggerated version of his persona fuelling the first act with hilarious moments sparking from his persona which would've quickly gotten old if he hadn't been killed off in the opening minutes. This cannot be said however for every surprise actor with Paul Rudd appearing at one point reminding the audience of his excellent acting skill and comedic timing using his short allotted time perfectly, it was a shame to see him and a few others mysteriously disappear when they could've been utilised more effectively. Almost Instantly the cast is whittled down to just six, including the protagonists, the host- James Franco as well as Jonah Hill, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson after a rather thrilling and almost slightly disturbing 'apocalypse' sequence of death and destruction made counteractively hilarious through the reactions of the cast wisely chosen, all sharing excellent off screen chemistry that evidently translates in front of the camera.

 Hiding inside the house for many days the film never fails to entertain consistently finding something new to do despite the inability to go outdoors, springing up new surprises and events that swing the film in new directions. With toilet humour that is particular to only certain comedy tastes, not everyone will find this crude and rather masculine film for them, containing consistently immature scenes of an almost worrying amount of ‘dick jokes’ entwined however with occasional moments of intelligent comedy whereby none of the good jokes are in the trailer. Many humorous moments emerge from contextual references to past films of the cast being often admirable accepting which films were good and which were obvious failures, these are used sparingly however as to not discriminate audience members of little contextual knowledge.

With certain comedies it's crucial to know as little as possible prior to viewing so as not to spoil certain moments of hilarity and this is certainly the case in ‘this is the end’. The story could've been tighter in certain places, especially towards the end with its lacklustre finale however this is not the point of focus in the film. The films primary principle is of course to make the audience laugh and it achieves this heroically.

8/10- A whole lot of fun with the best cinematic comedians.

Calum Russell