This is the End

This is the End written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, starring Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, and Emma Watson.

There isn't much to say about this movie...but I'll just say I enjoyed it as the comedy it was and had a good time watching it.

This movie doesn't have much of a storyline but instead relies on the charisma of the actors playing themselves in this apocalyptic movie and for the most part this movie wholly succeeds.  I found it funny as all of the actors weren't shy about poking fun at themselves and didn't hold anything back.  By doing this they really helped to connect with the audience as they presented themselves with good moments followed by moments of them being jerks.  This helped to humanize them as they didn't put on Gwenth Paltrow airs, but made themselves be real people with real problems despite the fact they get paid large amounts of money for really doing nothing that adds much to society - which they even comment on in the movie. 

It is an odd movie because like I said above there isn't much of a storyline as the movie relies a lot on viewer's knowledge of the actors, the inside jokes that happens between them, and the viewer's knowledge or preconceived views of the actors.   Danny McBride being a prime example of this as he plays upon his persona as viewed through movies, which isn't a good a one, but he completely plays it up and interjects some much needed masculine energy into the movie when he shows up.  Every actor plays themselves in this movie and the first act of the movie is an Easter egg bonanza of movie knowledge, movie references, and movie inside jokes.  I've got to say it was pretty funny.  Emma Watson does a good job blowing up her sweet nature role in Harry Potter as she swears up a storm...though in a justified way so as not to completely ruin her persona.  That is one of the best thing about this movie how the actors don't shy away from poking fun at themselves, which is refreshing to see as they didn't take themselves too seriously.  This is something Tom Cruise has had a hard time doing in his movies as he always seems to portray himself a bad ass with all kinds of women in the movie falling themselves over to get to him.  Even when we get actors or actresses downplaying themselves: Tome Cruise, Julia Roberts, Gwenth Paltrow, or Tom Hanks there always seem to be a falseness to it that doesn't quite ring true.  But with all the actors in this movie it doesn't feel that way, it honesty feels more genuine.  This is one of the things that I thinks helps to sale the humor in this movie. 

It is also one of the few comedies I've seen in a long time that doesn't let the humor of scenes go on for a long time.  There was only one scene where this happened and it did help to hurt the pace of the movie, but one scene out of the whole movie, isn't that bad.  Other than that This is The End didn't over stay its welcome in the humor department and did its best to put the characters at the forefront of the movie.