This is the End (2013) Review

I had no real anticipation going into this film, the trailer was alright and whilst the reviews where mostly good I still didn’t feel it was for me. I couldn’t have been more wrong, this film was truly hysterical and I am not sure if it was the lack of good comedy films this year or that my expectations were particularly low but I loved. I couldn’t believe how funny this film was and how much I laughed. The cast were great, the visuals weren’t bad, the dialogue and humour is right on the money, and even the story moved along really well. I would recommend this film to anyone who liked Pineapple Express and Superbad. I’ll go into much more detail below but for now bookmark this if you are waiting to see the film, leave any comments below, if you have seen the film then check out the spoiler sections and I will look forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts.

Jay Baruchel:   The power of Christ compels you.
Jonah Hill:   Does it Jay?
Jay Baruchel:   The power of Christ compels you!
Jonah Hill:   Is the power of Christ compelling me Jay?  Guess what?  It’s not that compelling.

Plot:

The comedy This Is The End follows six friends trapped in a house after a series of strange and catastrophic events devastate Los Angeles. As the world unravels outside, dwindling supplies and cabin fever threaten to tear apart the friendships inside. Eventually, they are forced to leave the house, facing their fate and the true meaning of friendship and redemption.

Tim’s Film Reviews Recommended

Story: 85%     Acting: 85%     Characters: 90%     Dialogue: 95%

Comedy: 95%     Style/Sound: 90%     Visuals: 90%

Total: 90%

The story of a group of comedians trapped in a house during the apocalypse works really well because it keeps the main cast in a restrictive environment and allows for cabin fever and food deprivation to bring crazy behaviour, and because there is nowhere for frustration to go but on each other it adds up to comedic gold. As far as the acting goes its essentially them playing themselves but they do it with straight faces and with the dialogue these guys get it must have been really hard not to either breakdown or burst out laughing, because I definitely did. They of course where slightly altered versions of themselves but for example Jay and Jonah’s relationship is hysterical to me because I feel the same about Jonah and I just don’t know why, I am warming to him but still there’s a scene with him that just made me cry of laughter.

The dialogue was damn funny, well timed and realistic to the characters. I expect a lot of improv was used for by the actors to get their character reactions. I also want to applaud the trailer team for keeping it spoiler free because I hadn’t seen any of my favourite scenes in the trailers at all. There the type of scenes used in trailers all the time because they would have had great one liners and funny set pieces. Not really sure what type of comedy film you would call this, it’s a pretty unique film, I suppose it’s a horror comedy but it’s got a lot pop culture elements including at times what feels like a great comedic roast between the cast.

The visuals where surprisingly good, I assume by filming mostly in that house with only the six main casts kept the bulk of the budget for CGI and special effects. Because of the horror elements there were a lot of practical effects used for death scenes and they looked surprisingly good like that man who gets his head chopped off. Included in the horror side of the visuals we get lots of monsters and apocalyptic scenes of destruction, hills of fire, sink holes to hell and raptured people, the horned monster and the one with the wings where my favourite visuals. Mainly because there was no joke to them unlike the atomically correct devil creature near the end.

Trailer:

The best reviews I found would be these:

“This Is The End did a good job with its parody/satire and made a look at the end times super unrealistic, yet hilarious. I can’t believe I’m giving it this score. But it deserves it. It was just plain fun.” The Focused Filmographer. Full Review 

“Not only is the film a total laugh riot, but the story is genuinely interesting and more clever than any mainstream comedy I’ve seen in some time. And while not every joke worked, I was constantly entertained from beginning to end.” PG COOPER’S MOVIE REVIEWS. Full Review 

“Fires on all cylinders, takes no names, leaves none in return, and has you laughing until you seriously don’t know what’s next for these guys to make fun of. Then they make fun of it, and have you laughing even more since they pulled it off, and did it with flying colors.” Dan the Man’s Movie Reviews. Full Review 

“This Is The End is immature, raunchy, and ridiculous through and through, but it also happens to be the funniest movie I’ve seen all year.” Rorschach Reviews. Full Review 

“THIS IS THE END is a really enjoyable time at the movies and despite being a tad overlong it is hands down my pick for best comedy of the year.” Its Latin for Cookies! Full Review

Spoilers!

My favourite scene is a really difficult one to pick, so many scenes that made me laugh like an idiot but I’ll just list some of my favourites. Danny McBride and James Franco arguing about the porn mag was ridiculously funny. The Exorcism of Jonah Hill was the best performance of Hills comedic career. Danny McBride having Channing Tatum as his bitch near the end is so shocking a weird I couldn’t stop laughing. I know there’s way more but am having writers block. Please comment with your favourite scenes.