Renowned Shakespearean stage actor Edmund Kean died in 1833 and his last words were "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." This has since become a very famous quote. Perhaps it has become so popular because it's a very true statement (well...at least the second part.) Comedy seems incredibly difficult to actually make funny nowadays. 21 Jump Street did it brilliantly. Scary Movie 5, A Haunted House and The Hangover Part III all failed miserably. Now we have This Is The End...a comedy about an apocalyptic even that may just be the end of the world. It's written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg...who also made the incredible Superbad and primarily features six actors playing themselves stuck in a house together. There are many cameos spread throughout but mostly---it's just six. Those six are Seth Rogen,. Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, James Franco and Jonah Hill. Due to the fact that all of these talented people know one another....this film is not only hilarious but real and gun to my head...mostly improvised.
The film features these six actors stuck in Franco's house after an apocalypse strikes. While stuck inside the house....these six men must keep their egos and attitudes in check as they wait to be rescued. My favorite jokes revolve around the fact that Baruchel is lesser known than any of the others and how Hill tries to be nice to him due to this fact. Each of these six men get a lot of hilarious moments of their own, however. The best scene in the film revolves around McBride, Franco and a magazine and that's all I am going to say.
Even though all of these men are hilarious in their own right throughout...McBride steals the show. He is such an exaggerated version of how he's supposed to be in real life and so amazingly over the top that whenever he's on screen...the focus is on him and him alone.
This is also the most audacious and innovative comedy you are likely to see this or any other year. Never have I seen a film that is so drop dead funny and yet so smart and original since I saw Anchorman in 2004. Where else are you going to see a film where you can see something as funny as Kevin Hart kicks Aziz Ansari in the face or Michael Cera slapping Rihanna's butt? No...I'll answer that for you....nowhere.
Sure...21 Jump Street may be a bit funnier but you are never going to see a more laugh out loud, clever and awesome comedy anywhere else. This Is The End could have easily been too much of a self indulgent inside joke a la Grown Ups. However, unlike Adam Sandler and Dennis Dugan...Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and the whole cast knows how to make a film that is both incredibly entertaining for the audience and fun for them to make. And for that....I tip my hat to the cast and crew of this film.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated R for crude and sexual content throughout, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence)
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