Film Review: ‘This is the End’ Turns Stoner Fantasy Into Comedy

Submitted by BrianTT on June 11, 2013 - 12:22pm

CHICAGO – When David Gordon Green’s “Your Highness” hit fans of its writer/director and talented stars like a really bad pot hangover, its creators admitted that the project began life as a stoned what-if scenario. “Hey, let’s make a pot-laced fantasy movie, dude.” Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg’s “This is the End” clearly had similar origins.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Probably after a few bowls, one of the lifelong friends turned to the other and said, “What if we made an end-of-the-world movie about our buddies?” The result is far more successful than Green’s disastrous fantasy with some big laughs, trippy sequences, and the most ridiculous ending you’ll see all year. It’s not a perfect comedy strain by any stretch but it will satisfy your need for a laughter high.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “This is the End” in our reviews section.

Everyone in “This is the End” is playing exaggerated versions of him or herself and the leads are real friends Seth Rogen & Jay Baruchel. When Jay comes to visit Seth in his Hollywood Hills home, he’s hoping to smoke some weed, play some video games, and just hang out with an old buddy from whom he’s started to grow distant. He doesn’t want to hit the L.A. party scene, especially not at James Franco’s house, but that’s where he ends up after Rogen convinces him to go to a bash. Franco’s exaggerated trait (one assumes) is that he kind of hero worships Rogen, even going as far as having side-by-side paintings to honor their friendship.

The party at “This is the End” is filled with celebrities, including Aziz Ansari, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd, Rihanna, Jason Segel, and many more who get sucked into a massive hole in the front yard when the stoner party movie turns into an apocalypse one. The only party goers left are Rogen, Baruchel, Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride (with an awesome cameo appearance by Emma Watson, having a Hell of a month with this and her stellar turn in “The Bling Ring” next week). They spend the rest of the movie trying to stave off the inevitable, looking for food and water and hoping that helps come soon. Oh, they also get high a lot.

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “This is the End” review.

“This is the End” stars Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride. It was written & directed by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg. It is rated R and will be released on June 12, 2013.