- This is the End. Written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Starring James Franco, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel.
Rating: 6 (out of 10)
SETH Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill and a dozen or so other celebs play themselves in This Is The End, a film which gives equal weight to the issues of mortality and man-boobs.
We wouldn't expect anything less (or more?) of Rogen and writing/directing partner Evan Goldberg, whose experiences at Vancouver's Point Grey High School became the foundation for 2007's Superbad.
Here the characters are older, but precious little wiser when confronted with a Book of Revelations scenario come true.
The film opens with Jay Baruchel landing in L.A., wearing his Montreal Canadiens cap and an air of artistic contempt for the trappings of Hollywood. He's jealous of buddy Seth Rogen's success, but would much rather hang out - smoking weed and playing video games all day - than head to James Franco's housewarming party.
But party they do, where a coked-up Michael Cera gets serviced in the bathroom and Rihanna sings a "take yo panties off" duet with Craig Robinson. Jason Segel laments his nice-guy typecasting with Kevin Hart, and Emma Watson expounds on the merits of Forrest Gump.
Just around the time that Paul Rudd shows up late with a bottle of bubbly, all hell breaks loose. The men are forced to run the gauntlet of downed electrical wires, sinkholes and flying debris. Franco's landscaped front yard becomes a direct route to the fiery pits of hell. "I don't want to die at James Franco's house," whines Jay.
James, Seth and Jay hole up in chez Franco with a jumpy Craig Robinson and an overly solicitous Jonah Hill. Party-crasher Danny McBride shows up later. Actors prove to be the most useless survivalists ever, duct-taping cracks in the foundation and using objets d'art to keep out looters.
It's an earthquake, it's a zombie apocalypse: only Jay equates what's going down as a sign of end times, the rapture. One by one the men decide to try and be better people, in order to be plucked into heaven. "Dear God, it's me: Jonah Hill, from Moneyball . . . "
It 'aint easy: Craig claims to have gouged out a man's eyeballs; James Franco's sin was having sex with a drugged-up Lindsay Lohan, who thought he was Jake Gyllenhaal.
While they wait for redemption, the boys divvy up the food and drink, film a homemade sequel to Pineapple Express, discuss keeping a "rapey" vibe out of the house when Emma Watson/ Hermione shows up, and do the remainder of the drugs.
Penis humour is everywhere: in the artwork, on the frighteningly endowed demons, and it rises as the topic of just about every conversation, including a heated exchange between Danny and James about masturbation etiquette.
This is balanced by pseudo-spiritual discussions about faith, heaven, the trinity: "it's three in one, like neopolitan ice cream," explains Jay.
Running throughout is the deteriorating friendship between Seth and Jay, as Seth assimilates into the shallow trappings of Tinseltown and Jay represents the "last weird connection to his shi#*y Canadian life."
The energy and the self-deprecating gags are steady for the film's first three-quarters and it's fun watching these actors keep it together under ridiculous circumstances. But, inevitably, watching 30-somethings get high and obsess about masturbation gets a little tiresome, if not a little weird. And by the time Channing Tatum makes his surprising cameo, we're king of praying for the end ourselves.
