By Chris Luckett
3 stars out of 5
What has always made the best movies from
the Judd Apatow factory different from other comedies is heart. The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall were all raunchy and vulgar, but beneath
the R-rated jokes were characters dealing with real emotions in realistic ways.
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| Image property of Sony Pictures |
When the emotions in an Apatow movie feel
forced, it leads to Knocked Up’s
rom-com plot between Katharine Heigl and Seth Rogen or the scattershot Pineapple Express, which seemed to forget
it was even a comedy by the second half. This
is the End – which isn’t an actual Apatow movie but does employ all of his
usual actors, writers, and producers – showed incredible promise from the
clever trailers, but sadly is much more akin to the latter movies than the
former.
This
is the End disguises itself as a movie about real
people, with actors playing slightly exaggerated versions of themselves. Jay
Baruchel flies into L.A. to hang out with Seth Rogen, who convinces Baruchel to
go with him to a party at James Franco’s house. Guests at the party include
virtually every hot comedic actor working today, from Craig Robinson, Danny
McBride, and Jonah Hill to Michael Cera, Mindy Kaling, and Aziz Ansari.
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| Image property of Sony Pictures |
The early scenes are some of the most
hilarious of any comedy in the last few years, with every actor
perfectly playing into the impression of what audiences think they’re really
like. Soon, though, the Rapture arrives, leaving Rogen, Baruchel, Franco,
Robinson, and Hill alone and barricaded inside Franco’s mansion while hellfire
rains outside.
For a while, Rogen and his pals get
significant mileage out of their end-of-the-world scenario and it’s quite
enjoyable to watch them react exactly how we believe they would under the
situation. By the second half of the movie, though, the laughs are fewer and
farther between – and none of them end up matching the ribald hilarity of the
opening 20 minutes.
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| Image property of Sony Pictures |
As the final act arrives, the movie suffers
from the same malady Pineapple Express
did: whereas Pineapple Express left
the comedy behind and got caught up in barn explosions and chest wounds, This is the End loses its way in an unfunny mess
of sexual assault, cannibalism, and CGI phalluses.
Part of the problem is that a comedy about
being left behind after the Rapture is somewhat handcuffed into a
less-than-happy story. A larger part of the problem is simply that without any
heart or honest emotion beneath the puerile humour, This is the End ultimately feels more like an Adam Sandler movie
than a Judd Apatow one.
