Seth Rogen has been on a bit of a slide as of late. In terms of the quality of his work compared to several years ago, it's, well... it hasn't been that great. Doing what made him a star in the first place - writing material for himself and pals to star in as he did with Knocked Up/Superbad - has once again served him well.
Also taking on the role of co-helmer with long-time collaborator and pal Evan Goldberg, This is the End plays on the personas, public at least, of its extremely famous core cast. So James Franco is exceedingly pretentious, Jonah Hill has let the Oscar nod go to his head, Danny McBride is a bit of a dick and (the always watchable) Jay Baruchel shy and grated by the changing of his best pal (Rogen).
While Craig Robinson generally hangs around stealing scenes as he did in Hot Tub Time Machine. He is a very funny man.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNs0vQgCWY0
It's a tough balance to strike; a little too knowing and it becomes a $32 million in-joke, go all out slapstick and the entire cast just look silly and the whole thing turns out to be a laugh-free hour and a half. That balance, however, is superbly struck and the resulting film is every bit as crass and out there as you'd expect it to be.
This is the End, eh, begins with a party at James Franco's gaff; as you'd expect, said party is chock-a-block with celebrities. Just as it's getting going, the apocalypse kicks off and said barrage of A-list celebrities buy the farm both horrifically and hilariously. The rest of the film then plays out as our remaining heroes bicker and attempt to survive.
A big part of enjoying this overtly silly production is embracing how ridiculous it is. The "characters" may be the actors actually playing themselves, but it's very much a piss-take. Expecting anything resembling a smart, linear narrative is pointless - this has more dick jokes than a bunch of clowns in a sauna.
Clown in a sauna (other clown not pictured)
Rogen and Goldberg do a solid job for their first feature directing, both not afraid to take calculated comedic risks and push the boundaries of crassness.
But there's actually a sweet story and its core and that sweetness underlines this very funny comedy all the way through.
Also; if you're not soiling yourself with laughter in the final scenes, then you sir/miss are a sap and we don't want to be friends with you any more. So there.
Anyway this is funny as fuck and you should go see it.
