Film Review: This is the End

   With this year currently bombarded with epic space adventures and men of steel and iron, comes a very original, very vulgar comedy from the twisted minds of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg called This is the End. Absurdly stupid but yet wildly entertaining that is sure to leave the audience holding on to their sides from laughter.

   This is the End begins with Jay Baruchel arriving in Los Angeles to visit an old friend and fellow actor Seth Rogen. The two later attend a house warming party hosted by James Franco where there are plenty of drugs, sex and alcohol to go around. Having not gotten used to the "Hollywood Lifestyle",  Jay briefly leaves the party to buy cigarettes with Seth when a massive earthquake hits and giant sinkholes appearing in the ground. Retreating back to James' house, the host and guests do not believe their story until they evacuate outside and see the world in turmoil. Another sinkhole appears right near where everyone is standing and proceeds to consume several guests, prompting Jay, James and Seth to take refuge back in the house along with fellow actors Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride. The group must now learn to get along with eachother, survive the apocalypse and learn the true meaning of friendship as the end of days slowly approaches around them.

   Directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, This is the End is a comedy, a disaster film and a satire all in one; a satire on celebrities, the lives they lead and their interactions with eachother. The situations the group gets put through almost seems like little skits that are blended together which isn't a surprise considering they are all comedians. The humor is so absurd and at times very over the top and out there but yet still manages to appropriately fit with the over all story. If that is not enough, the mere interactions and dialogues between the characters is more than enough to keep the audience laughing.

   Playing fictional versions of themselves, the main cast, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill and Danny McBride all work so well with eachother; poking fun at eachothers careers and acting abilities. Initially parodies of their real life counterparts: Franco is the arrogant, narcissistic douchebag that only cares for himself, Rogen and Baruchel are the two friends who have slowly grown apart, Robinson acts as the voice of reason between the group, Hill who is a bit too nice to everyone and McBride who is the reckless foil and outcast of the group. During the party scenes the audience will notice a few more celebrities who have their own little comedic moments including Rihanna, Michael Cera, Kevin Hart, Jason Segel, Mindy Kaling, David Krumholtz, Aziz Ansari and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. One guest in particular is the beautiful Emma Watson, who's film version is so unlike herself that it comes as a pleasant surprise to see Emma in comedic role.

   This is the End is a pretty simple film to understand; A group of famous actors and comedians struggle to survive the apocalypse, and that is why it works so well. The dialogue and interactions between the characters is what easily makes the film enjoyable and yes it does tend to get a little ridiculous near the end but what can one expect from a comedy film? It's fun, it's loud and definitely has no shortage of laughs in what is one of the most absurdly entertaining, original comedies of the last few years.