This is the End: sucessful comedian coalition

Amid the plethora of films to premiere during the summer blockbuster season, it is generally safe to bet that a fair number will be comedies.

There’s good reason for this: summers are typically associated with fun and excitement, offering children an escape from school, a perfect time for adults to vacation, and typically carry a lighthearted atmosphere, even if only for the nostalgia of summers passed.

Such an atmosphere lends itself to movies striving to match that tone, ranging from light, children’s adventure stories, to the drunken antics in films like The Hangover. This is the End definitely leans more toward the latter, with one slight exception: the film takes the typical comedy formula and throws it straight to Hell — literally.

This is the End is undoubtedly an ambitious project, especially in its genre. Written and directed by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, the film takes some of the most well-known names of modern comedy, forces them into an uneasy alliance, and has them confront the end of the world, alongside the hilarity that comes with it.

This film was admittedly a dangerous project, especially given the failure of other “comedy team-up” films in recent history, such as the disastrous The Hangover Part III, released just weeks before This is the End, or the equally flawed Grown Ups 2, released a few weeks after. However, This is the End stands up surprisingly well, as the cast allowed their talents to build off of one another, permitting the film to become more than simply the sum of its parts.

The film opens with Canadian actor Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder, How to Train Your Dragon), as he visits his longtime friend Seth Rogan (Knocked Up, Pineapple Express) in Hollywood.

Despite his discomfort associating with strangers, Baruchel accompanies Rogan to a celebrity party hosted by James Franco (Pineapple Express) in his overly-artistic, laughably expensive mansion, the setting where the majority of the film takes place.

The night of the party proceeds in a suitably uncomfortable fashion, until beams of light cause much of the world’s population to vanish. Shortly thereafter, earthquakes split the ground into fiery, demon-spawning pits, Hollywood is swathed in flame and Michael Cera’s drunken sexual antics are interrupted. In a relatively brief timespan, most of America’s A-listers are swallowed by a fiery chasm in Franco’s yard, leaving Baruchel, Rogan, Franco, Jonah Hill (Superbad, Knocked Up), Danny McBride (Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder) and Craig Robinson (Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder) alone to face Armageddon.

The remainder of this movie consists primarily of the remaining characters playing off of each other as they go through what can only be described as typical apocalyptic trials: finding food and water, maintaining their shelter and making poor-resolution webcam video journals to keep themselves sane.

In terms of plot, there is not much that audiences won’t be able to predict. As a survival movie, This is the End brings very little to the table. However, this is perfectly acceptable because, at its core, This is the End is not a survival drama, but a character-driven comedy, and in that regard, the film absolutely shines.

The film’s characters are all caricatures of the actors in real life, which works to this film’s credit as it is hilariously self-aware. Each character, major and minor, is constructed in such a way as to satirize not the celebrities themselves, but the way in which people perceive celebrities in society.

While officially the actors are all playing “themselves,” it would be much more accurate to say that they are playing exaggerated versions of themselves akin to what one might find in a typical tabloid article.

Addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex, money and their own fame, the cast of This is the End flaunts nearly every negative celebrity stereotype imaginable; the party in Franco’s home alone would provide enough material to keep The National Enquirer supplied with stories for years.

However, what is truly amazing about This is the End isn’t the stereotypes, or the comedy derived therein, but rather in how the characters remain likeable almost in spite of themselves. No matter how antisocial or judgmental Baruchel behaves, or how overly selfish Franco acts, they rarely leave the audience wishing ill on them, and when they do, the issue is swiftly and hilariously dealt with.

As the characters grow and reflect on who they are, one cannot help but be drawn in, not because of the stereotypes, but because of the glimpses of real human emotions that shine through the stereotypes. Audiences can develop affinities and connections with these characters that go far beyond just laughing at their jokes, a rare trait for a comedy film.

Keeping these people likeable, in spite of their intentionally unpleasant personalities, allows the film to preserve its dark, weighty atmosphere without losing sight of its true purpose: comedy.

The comedy in This is the End is drop-dead hilarious, in more ways than one. One would hope for nothing less from a cast of such well-seasoned greats. From a hilarious glimpse at a homemade Pineapple Express 2, to destroying Franco’s hilariously sexualized “art” for use as barricades, hardly a single joke in the film fails to deliver a laugh.

The film clearly recognizes that these actors have a long history with each other. The effects of this history are two-fold. The first effect is that the relationships between the characters feel very real; it takes no suspension of disbelief that these characters are longtime friends. The second effect is that each actor’s individual comedy is enhanced by this pre-existing chemistry, allowing the actors to build off of one another in each joke and scene. The effect is undeniable, and audiences will be hard pressed to find a moment in this film that isn’t at least a little bit funny.

That’s not to say that every laugh will be a comfortable one, however. The comedy of This is the End well earns the movie’s R-rating. One particular joke as the film moves into it final act may leave viewers more appalled than giggly, and several other “played for laughs situations” are written in such poor taste that some audience members may be put off.

That is one of the risks of placing a comedy in this setting: the serious setting, at times, works against the film’s comedic tone, rather than with it, causing some jokes to seem out of place, forced or in bad taste. However, these moments are rare and do not detract from the general experience of the film.

Overall, despite having a slightly predictable plot and a few jokes that may be uncomfortable to some, This is the End delivers a comedy experience that lives up to its grand, over-the-top premise.

With an excellent cast, enjoyable characters and humor that will keep audiences laughing through the very last scene, this film is a must see for any fan of the comedy genre.

Overall rating: 4 stars out of 5