FILM OF THE WEEK- This Is The End

Dir: Jay Baruchel / Seth Rogen

In the opening scene of ‘This Is The End’, Seth Rogen’s character is asked when he’ll play someone in a movie that isn’t just another version of himself. Of course, the answer is certainly not in this picture as Rogen literally plays himself; however that helps, not hinders the film which is one hour forty minutes of parody, puns and, of course, penis jokes.

The concept, similar to that of the forthcoming ‘The World’s End’ sees a group of male friends dealing with their view of each other and themselves during the apocalypse. In ‘This Is The End’ the apocalypse plays second fiddle though, and is merely a catalyst used to get the group of very funny actors together to exchange toilet humour and pop culture references.

This is helped massively by the success of the majority of the cast. Despite Danny McBride seeming to be slightly out of rhythm with the rest of the gang (and often being left with jokes that just run for too long) the likes of Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson and a wonderful (yet all to brief) Michael Cera cameo more than make up for it, with Hill in particular getting a great moment to channel his inner Linda Blair and leave the viewer in stitches.

Were the film solely confined to self-parody and reference humour it would not be anywhere near the success it is, and luckily Rogen and Baruchel’s fast paced script also tackles the idea of the liberal rich man’s plight after finding themselves on the wrong end of judgement day. This actually allows for some sort of character arc as the men learn to love, respect and look out for each other (amusingly, all qualities noted by the duo to be lacking in any entertainment figure at James Franco’s party.).

The final scene though, which involves Rogen and a heavenly drug, suggests that their comedy hasn’t caved in to sentimentality and that, thank God, this very funny screenwriting pair seem set to rise to even higher comedy plains following this very promising debut feature.

****   (4/5)

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THE DOUBLE: Another meta delight with the Joss Whedon-penned ‘The Cabin In The Woods’