New Release Review: 'This Is The End'

It's not imperative that a comedy have an abundance of plot - Anchorman proved that - but it's helpful if there's some. A small character arc, a theme, maybe a recurring motif would also do in a pinch, just so long as we're given something. If there's a motif of any kind in This Is The End, it's penises. (Doesn't matter how you pluralise 'penis' it never looks quite right. Turns out 'penes' is also acceptable.) Instead of giving us a second act, which is what we've learnt to expect from films over their 120 year history, we get jokes about penises and all things penis related; and instead of a conclusion we get the Backstreet Boys. Which is weirder and less interesting than it sounds.

There may have been the outline of a script ahead of filming, but what we get is all improv. Improv which goes on and on and on. The plot, or what passes for it, has Jay Baruchel visiting Seth Rogen in LA to catch-up (they play themselves, as do the rest of the cast). They go to James Franco's house party where numerous B-list American comedians are behaving badly. Also: Rihanna's there. Then the apocalypse happens. Everyone remotely amusing or interesting dies or ascends towards the sky in a UFO-like blue light. The six most self-involved actors survive and take refuge in Franco's very sound stage-looking home. At which point This Is The End becomes Frank Darabont's The Mist, just without plot or character.

Even if the film had something resembling narrative momentum, it still wouldn't work. Rogen and Evan Goldberg (the co-writers and directors) have assembled a cast that's far too similar in their irreverent, scatological approach to humour. They have the same delivery, the same style of riffing, and, more often than not, the same supposedly amusing jowly features. There's no group dynamic, no variety, no tension or chemistry. There's mileage in creating twisted versions of actors most of us know, but Franco et al don't do much more than behave selfishly. Everything about the film and the cast is inert. It just sits there doing nothing, staring blankly back at you.

Overall: 2/10
Both points go to Michael Cera - the only actor in it who manages to nail playing a warped version of themselves. Unfortunately he isn't in it long.