This Is The End

Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco and Craig Robinson as themselves in This Is The End

***1/2 out of ****

 

The destruction obsession in movies of late makes This Is The End a perfectly timed release. I’m amazed at how fun it was to see a movie go all the way with the apocalypse… for laughs.

While actor Seth Rogen and his friend Evan Goldberg have been screenwriting for years with films like Superbad and Pineapple Express, This Is The End is the first one the two have directed. Conceptually, it’s like the kind of idea that a bunch of writers might cook up while getting drunk together, knowing that no studio will go for it. While it took a dozen studio title cards for this movie to get started, this crazy idea for a movie actually happened. They made an R-rated comedy about Rogen and other showbiz friends (as themselves) facing the biblical rapture and being left behind.

The idea is so absurd, that no amount of morbid imagery and horrific violence can separate you from its hilarity. It only enhances the self-deprecating idea that movie stars don’t deserve to go to heaven. The foul–mouthed banter amongst Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and the shameless Danny McBride, is constant and brilliant. I laughed myself silly.