Brave, Original and Downright Hilarious

Rating: Null/10 (13 June 2013)

This Is the End (2013)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson are at James Franco's house partying when something disastrous happens and the men soon find themselves facing all sorts of danger as they tucker into the house and try to survive. To mention exactly what happened would be a mistake for anyone going into this film blind. Yes, the trailers hint at a few things but there's just so many off-the-wall twists in this film that it would be a shame for anyone to have them spoiled. I will say that this here is without question one of the most original, daring and funny comedies to come out of Hollywood in years. Co-writer and co-directors Rogan and Evan Goldberg actually do an incredibly good job on both fronts for a number of reasons. For starters, they're really not worried about crossing the line of good taste but their dirty humor isn't like so many other gross-out films where it happens just for the sake doing something dirty. The humor here comes for a reason and the reason is whatever situation the cast finds themselves in. Again, I'm not going to ruin these situations but once you see the film you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. There's a lot of great humor aimed at weed and various other drugs, which also come off as fresh and original even if that REEFER MADNESS thing has been done to death since Cheech and Chong came along. The film also has something to say about certain issues, which are smartly placed in the screenplay where they don't come off as being preachy. Finally, a big amount of credit has to go to the cast members for allowing themselves to be the jokes of so many cruel moments. This is especially true of the five survivors who must deal with each other through this ordeal and the screenplay is just so creative that it perfectly nails this stars even if they are just playing certain versions of themselves. Not only do we get the big five doing their thing but a lot of other celebrities show up with quick cameos and it's good that they can all laugh at themselves. THIS IS THE END is a brave little gem that manages to be incredibly funny at times but best of all is that the viewer never knows where it's going to go next.