This Is the End (2013)

Superbad and Pineapple Express twosome, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, have returned to their comfort zone, rehashing and honing their stoner comedy shtick with the most incoherent hangover story of all time! The fiery cataclysm of the biblical apocalypse is doused in the ejaculated bodily fluids of off-colour humour, proving that increasingly puerile vulgarity can be funny…to adults…in any situation.

Apatow’s apprentices know there’s a market for the fraternal farce. This Is the End is obviously old ground for the co-writers, except it amps up the misogyny (with singer, Rihanna, a willing enabler) and is incredibly female exclusive; from the mucky wife-beaters, right down to the infantile inability of the male leads to cope responsibly in difficult circumstances.

The gang face the Apocalypse

Rogen personally stars alongside a stellar cast of funny men (Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride and Jay Baruchel amongst a host of others) whose party night is rudely interrupted by the Revelation. The celebrities play self-aware versions of themselves, attempting to survive the hell on earth in what would have been a near-perfect high-concept comedy, if the script wasn’t as tiddly as the final six selfish actors left standing.  One suspects Rogen and Goldberg must have gone through a bunch of shitty gag suggestions before finally settling on the incongruous blend of arguments about masturbatory etiquette, intertextual time-wasters from previous productions and Michael Cera. Consequently, the finished article is annoyingly patchy, which in turn makes the whole thing only intermittently chuckle-worthy.  

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a film that is actually very intelligent in the way that it’s completely, gross-out stupid, then This Is the End is, fatefully, where you should start looking – if not just to see McBride at his obnoxious best and an axe-wielding “Hermione” kick some ass.

Rating: 3.5/5