Movie Review - This is the End

On Monday night, I had the amazing opportunity to attend a free screening of Seth Rogen's new movie This is the End. While I can safely say that this movie is not for everyone, it was definitely the right movie for me. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a movie theatre since I saw Bridesmaids back in 2011.

Let me preface this review by repeating that this movie is seriously not for everyone. If you're over the age of 40, unless you have a weirdly youthful and drug-related sense of humor, you will hate this movie. I knew for a fact after about ten minutes of the movie that my mom would've hated it. There were at least four people in the screening that were way older than her, and I'm honestly curious as to why they were even there - sure, it's a free movie, but I wouldn't go see a free movie that I had zero interest in.

With that out of the way, let's get on with the review (with some slight spoilers I suppose):

In This is the End, Jay Baruchel goes to LA to stay with his best friend Seth Rogen. His first night there, they go to a housewarming party at James Franco's house even though Jay doesn't want to go. He doesn't like the Hollywood lifestyle or any of the people who are going to be there, but Seth argues that it will be a good way for him to become friends with everyone.

The party scene is packed with cameo appearances - pretty much anyone who is anyone in comedy is in it, along with other random cameos including Rihanna. After a while, the apocalypse happens and most of the guests (other than Rogen, Baruchel, Franco, Craig Robinson, and Jonah Hill) fall into the giant hole to Hell that opened up on the front yard of the house. The five survivors (plus Danny McBride, who eventually shows up) are forced to survive the apocalypse together from inside James Franco's house.

All of the actors play themselves and the ploy doesn't really get old; in fact, it's pretty hilarious. Some of the actors are basically parodies of themselves: Jason Segel talks about how boring his character on How I Met Your Mother is, Michael Cera runs around snorting cocaine and hooking up with random girls in the bathroom. Emma Watson showing up brandishing a bloody axe is so much funnier because it's Emma Watson, it's Hermione Granger threatening all these actors.

I absolutely love Judd Apatow-style comedies. Pineapple Express is one of my all-time favorites- I still laugh so hard I cry every time I watch it. So to me, one of the best parts was at the beginning when Rogen and Franco talk about making a sequel to Pineapple Express and then, in their apocalyptic boredom, actually film a sequel using crappy homemade special effects.

Basically, this is the funniest movie I've seen in a long, long time. It got to a point where I realized I had to stop drinking my water because I was afraid I was going to pee my pants from laughing so much. It's a great summer comedy, and if you can deal with the raunchy humor and drug references, I think everyone should go see it.