This Is The End

COMEDY/HORROR

Last Ditch Efforts

8.25 out of 10 | DVD or RENTAL

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Rated: R  Crude and sexual content, brief graphic nudity, drug use, pervasive language and some violence
Release Date: June 12, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes

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Director: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg
Writers: Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, based on the short film Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse by Jason Stone
Cast: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, Emma Watson, Rihanna

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Watch Trailer

SYNOPSIS:  While attending a party at James Franco's house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse.

REVIEW: Seth Rogen is an actor (The Guilt Trip), a writer (The Watch), and now a director! The Canadian-born star brings his unique bong-y perspective from Vancouver, British Columbia, and teams with long-time collaborating writer Evan Goldberg to adapt the Jason Stone short film that Seth and Jay Baruchel Jason and Seth created in 2007.

Seth Rogen (Green Hornet) waits at LAX for his Canadian childhood pal Jay Baruchel (She's Out of my League) to deplane. After Jay arrives they go back to Seth's house and party up with weed, alcohol, and 3D television and video games. When Seth asks Jay to accompany him to James Franco's housewarming, Jay hesitantly goes. After joining the party and meeting up with Franco (147 Hours), Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Craig Robinson (Peeples), Emma Watson (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Kevin Hart (Think Like a Man), and others, Jay tires of the LA scene and wants to go back to Seth's place. When he and Seth go to a convenience store for more smokes, an earthquake rocks the neighborhood and people are transported Into the sky via blue lights. With the neighborhood – Seth and Jay decide to get back to Franco's house to wait out the coming apocalypse.

What happens when a bunch of actors get together for a housewarming party and end up having to face down the end of the world? When it comes to Rogen, Franco, Baruchel, Robinson, and Hill, they wait out the End of Days with beer, weed, some water, and no idea as to what to do next. Watching these guys muddle their way through the Rapture is like watching a bunch of five-year-olds fight over the last cookie on the plate. Ludicrous, unbelievable, and over-the-top, This Is The End is a hilarious look at how these these weed-toting, liquor-consuming, fun-loving friends could possibly survive.

There's three things that are clever about this movie. The first is that every character that these guys play are themselves… or are the caricatures of what we expect these actors to be in their personal lives. The second is that I never would have expected a film from these guys in the way that they laid it out. Even though Rogen and Franco and crew have come up with some strange tales, This Is The End takes the prize. And lastly Rogan and his crew made a funny movie and seemed to have a great time doing it.

Besides the main cast, there are plenty of other cameo appearances from their acting friends. From Mindy Kaling (The 40-Year-old Virgin) to Emma Watson, to Michael Cera (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), and others, each brings their familiar pattern to what we expect from them while pulling back the curtain on the more hidden and explicit parts of their lives.

Starting off like a scene from Less Than Zero, This Is The End quickly turns into an all-out hilarious supernatural, and out-of-this-world, post-apocalyptic nightmare. There are plenty of laughs to be had, from Jonah Hill playing around with a prop gun, to a standoff between James Franco and Danny McBride over Franco's porn magazines, to a discussion as to how six survivors should deal with Emma Watson without being 'rape-y'. There's pretty decent special effects - way beyond anything that the boys have done while making Pineapple Express, Super Bad for some of their other efforts.

This juvenile, vulgar comedy is not for everyone. But if you love Seth Rogen's and his buddies' work on film before now, this film will be a raunchy, fun, entertaining delight.

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30 Minutes or Less

Waiting For The Delivery

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writers: Mihael Diliberti, Matthew Sullivan

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, Aziz Ansari, Michael Peña

SYNOPSIS: Two wannabe criminal masterminds kidnap a pizza delivery guy, strap a bomb to his chest and order him to rob a bank for $100,000.

REVIEW: Ruben Fleischer, director or Zombieland, takes a script from relative scribe newcomers Michael Diliberti and Matthew Sullivan to bring us a day in the life of an average pizza delivery guy Nick. Reteaming with his Zombieland star Jesse Eisenberg, Fleischer tries his hand at a more obvious, less subtle comedy.

Jesse Eisenberg stars as Nick, a snarky pizza delivery guy who endangers life, limb and a beat-up mustang to try and get the hot pepperoni pies to their final locations in, you guessed it, thirty minutes or less. Cut to a couple of wannabe criminal masterminds Dwayne (Danny McBride from Pineapple Express) and Travis (Nick Swardson from Comedy Central's Reno 911!) who realize that they want to get their hands on Dwayne's father's remaining lottery money. In order to get the money, lap dancer Juicy (Biana Kajlich from CBS's Rules of Engagement) plants the seed that Dwayne should have a professional assassin kill his father so he, and her, can get the money. Of course, a professional hitman costs $100,000 that Dwayne doesn't have in his wallet. Dwayne and Travis concoct a plan to build a bomb vest, lure a pizza delivery guy to a scrap yard location, knock him out, strap on the bomb, and set him out to rob a bank for the $100,000 within 10 hours before the bomb explodes on its own. Once the money exchanges hands then Dwayne and Travis would give Nick the code to disarm and disrobe the bomb vest. Enter Nick's friend Chet (Aziz Ansari from NBC's Parks & Recreation) who Nick seeks out to help him get out of the vest to no avail and then participate in the actual robbery.

Similar in feel to Zombieland without the heart that Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin brought to that film, 30 Minutes or Less is just a manic, 5-hour energy boost of a movie compressed into a hour and a half. Eisenberg is becoming the stoic straight-man caricature that he portrayed in The Social Network, Adventureland and Zombieland. Even Nicks's heartfelt 'final' goodbye to Chet's sister Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria) lacks any visual cues hinting at emotion. Maybe Eisenberg is getting the same roles, or maybe he needs to expand his facial expressions. Ansari brings his small screen mugging and outbursts perfected on Parks and Recreation to the role of Chet although the best scenes were already run through the movie's preview trailers. Danny McBride's Dwayne is classic McBride, full of venom, furrowed brows and bad judgements. Nick Swardson seems to be the most versatile as Dwayne's sidekick Travis, showing a little ingenuity and remorse. The breakout character is Michael Pena as Juicy's hitman boyfriend Chango. His off-beat gangster speech and mannerism provide the most laughs, along with Ansari's Chet.

Running at under one and a half hours, 30 Minutes or Less is a quick ride with a few potholes, a few blown lights and a few misses. We never find out what happens to Dwayne's father, The Major (Fred Ward) once Chango happens upon him. We have to suspend our disbelief much longer than usual to believe that Travis has the internet reading and general mechanical skills to create a stable bomb vest with a remote detonator, a countdown mechanism and loads of C4.

This film seems like a quick hit, but lacks the substance that will attract mass audiences greater than 18 to 25 year old males. Fleischer's Zombieland had laughs, action, and a solid cast and story. 30 Minutes or Less, with its great list of comedic actors, somehow just doesn't capitalize on itself, opting instead to deliver the goods after the time has expired.

WORTH: Matinee or Rental

Due Date

Running On A Full Tank

[Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan]

image from hollywoodgo.com

RANT: Hello November. The leaves are changing color. The landscapers have traded in their mowers for blowers as their primary gasoline driven tool. As I return from the theater today, I apologetically drove through a pile of leaves the workers had blown together on the driveway. It hearkened back to being a kid, running through the leaves, except this time with a 2,000 lb. car!

SYNOPSIS: Peter Highman needs to get across the country to be with his wife for her scheduled C-section of their first child. Put on a "No Fly" list because of aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay, Peter is forced into a road trip with him in an attempt to get to Los Angeles in time.

Todd Phillips, director of comedy gold such as "The Hangover", "Old School" and "Starsky & Hutch", re-teams with Zach Galifianakis and adds Robert Downey, Jr. to the roster to bring us a good old-fashioned at-odds, must-get-home buddy road flick. In the spirit of "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Tommy Boy", Downey, Jr. stars as high-strung, impatient architect Peter Highman, trying to get home to Los Angeles for the birth of his child. Galifianakis co-stars as aspiring actor Ethan Tremblay, who from the first time they meet in passing at the airport causes Peter nothing but problems and barriers to getting home to the west coast.

Of course Ethan accidentally switches bags at the airport departures curbside, causing Peter to be detained for contraband. Of course, Ethan decides to spout to Peter about turning off his cell phone while getting ready for takeoff, mentioning terrorists and bombs, causing both to be escorted off the flight and onto a 'no-fly" list. With no wallet or ID, Peter cannot rent a car and is forced to travel with Ethan as he attempts to make his way to Hollywood to become a television actor, with hopes to scatter his father's ashes at the Grand Canyon on the way.

There are great moments of laughter in the film. Be sure to look for the coffee grounds incident at Peter's friend Darryl's house in Texas. The moment of understanding between Peter and Ethan's Craig List "glaucoma pharmacist's" son is unexpected, oh so wrong, and hilarious. And try never to mistake a Mexico border crossing for a Texaco gas station when you are low on fuel. But this film has heart too.

Where Zach's Ethan is a constant source of amusement and frustration for Robert's Peter (and laughs for us), he gives some touching moments as he is as uncomfortable and tortured in his own skin as we know he must be. The mission to scatter his father's ashes is as much an emotional and spiritual journey as a physical one.

Sometimes the switches from comedy to drama and back again is disconcerting, but it supports the growth of both Peter and Ethan on their cross-country quests. At the end, you will definitely know and care more about them both, without resorting to asking Ethan's endless series of questions.

Worth: Matinee

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!