Rogen's and Companies' weirdest ride

Rating: 10/10 (2 August 2019)

That this blackish blue comedy is wonderfully self-deprecating largely goes without saying but it is worth noting, nonetheless. Much of the humor is derived just by how meta and how possibly real it all is. Why yes, I can imagine Hill being a two-faced twerp who just hates Baruchel rather easily. I am not even sure where James Franco was acting. Having watched the film a few times recently I was struck by how much the group dynamics-heightened for laughs-seem germane to guy friends of a certain age. It is all very, very funny and despite the plot stalling at times the film feels like no time has passed at all.
But the feature of the film I like the most is that it does get the a lot out of its high concept Re: end of days. There are some actual scary moments in this thing that work. Likewise, a few of the action set-pieces surprisingly work as fantasy action scenes. There is a just desserts quality to many of the characters fates that fit in with the End Times motif. Add in that a couple of dick jokes are deployed to keep it a comedy and this ends up being a really engaging text. It is what a guyland blue comedy should be.
Rogen and Goldberg are not great directors or writers per se but they do have a distinctive voice and enough basic competence at filmmaking to make fun entertaining films. This text is their signature work.