This Is the End

From about half way through this was an improvised commercial for the Bible and MilkyWay, packed with snappy lines. Sumptuous sub-plots and cameos never seen before. Rihanna burns in hellfire, Michael Cera didn’t disappoint for the first time in his life, Hermione has an ax and Tatum delivers another good one this year. Everybody in the main gang rocks, but I rooted for Franco the most. I guffawed loud and frequently. I’m glad they’re doing the sequel to Pineapple Express. (18/09/2013)

In probably the first film since Tropic Thunder, this is a film whose creators I would believe even if they told me in a hackneyed way: “We all enjoyed filming it, a great bunch of people came together." Except for a few moments when the jokes were awkward, I actually had fun from beginning to end (and more and more towards the end); and look, Jonah Hill is responsible for one of the very best moments of This Is the End. (31/01/2021)

A really great premise which made a lot of actors finally look friendlier and more human to me, as they are basically playing themselves. Suddenly, however, there is a brutal apocalypse, which is a meaningless bullshit in all respects and the only thing keeping the movie afloat is a number of pretty brutal catchphrases of the individual actors, who put down and try to best each other. I like the fact that the actors were themselves and that several times they openly made fun of themselves. What I don’t like was that some jokes were pretty unnecessary and over the line. At times I laughed a lot, just to stop laughing afterwards and wait for another catchphrase that would make me happy again. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg came up with a great idea and a lot of the actors convinced me that they are a great group of friends who can make you laugh and that I should definitely reckon with them for the future of America. (27/09/2014)

The comedy of the year so far. Incorrect and vulgar, but smart. Self-aware and meta, but not forced. Here applies that the more you know (about the actors and the roles they usually play in their movies), the more you will laugh, as long as you are not a bore. But then, not everyone handles scatological and incorrect humour with the grace of Seth Rogen :) (29/09/2013)

This is the End is a comedy that is pulled from mediocrity by the actors playing themselves, a large number of parody and WTF scenes, but it is also marred by a number of silly and cheesy sequences that probably couldn't be avoided in a film like this. The best moments were a pretty funny parody of The Exorcist and a heavenly cameo by an unnamed band. In short, a film that satisfies as an average one-off and there is not the slightest need for anyone to ever see it again. (14/11/2014)