Cannabis clerics

Rating: Null/10 (30 December 2013)

Directed by Seth Rogen and Eva Goldberg, "This Is The End" stars various Hollywood actors as comical versions of themselves. The film then portrays Los Angeles as a cauldron of bad manners, vices and judgemental jerks. Seeking to put an end to this debauchery is nothing less than the Bible's Book of Revelations, whose prophecies "come true", resulting in all "good people" being "sucked up into heaven" whilst all "bad people" find themselves trapped on a planet Earth now awash with demons, beasts and fiery infernos.
At this point, "This is the End" becomes a parody of post-apocalyptic action movies. Cleverly, the film portrays our heroes working together and putting aside differences, but only on the surface. Behind smiles, they're all conspiring against one another. Our heroes then discover that they too can "enter heaven", if only they "be good", "die for others", "sacrifice themselves" and "learn to unconditionally love their fellowmen". Yes, this is a stoner comedy which, like David Gordon Green's recent "The Sitter", is preoccupied with ethics. It also advocates dying selflessly for others. Anti-Christians scoff, but the film was written by two Jews, and philosophers of every creed and race have been espousing the same for centuries.
"This is the End" stars a funnier than usual Jonah Hill as an absurdly polite goof-ball and Danny McBride as Satan incarnate. James Franco, as usual, steals the show, playing himself as an overly sincere, drugged out playboy. The film climaxes with Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You", a song which succinctly sums up the film's message.
Whilst "End" has some funny moments, it's mostly inconsistent, too heavily improvised and its final sequences are not only awful (Backstreet Boys?) but contradict everything that came before (Heaven is just Hollywood painted white?). The film's best gags feature McBride and Franco attacking each other with invisible ejaculate, and Emma Watson eavesdropping on our heroes as they discuss how not to molest her. Plato would be proud.
7.5/10 – Worth one viewing.