Review of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

This movie is quite quirky and the story starts pretty quickly, with the impending end of the world clearly conveyed within the first couple of minutes. The story seemed rather confusing in a way, in as much as trying to determine what genre it fits in, with there being somewhat sentimental moments as well as some quite crude sexual references and some dramatic moments too, at points.

The relationship between Dodge (interesting name, I know - sounds like a car salesman lol) and Penny is quite interesting, they both have their individual quirks with one egging on the other and as the movie continues, we learn more about their backgrounds, moreso Dodge than Penny I suppose.

Although the story in one sense, starts quite quickly, there was also a sense throughout of where exactly is this all going? plot wise - yes the end of world is nigh and they all know it but it did feel, or seem, to me like it meandered on a bit, for want of a better term. Its entertaining and your left wondering what the ultimate outcome will be, quite where its going if you will but its not really all that edge-of-your-seat.

Its a pretty entertaining movie overall, as the characters are interesting and your constantly curious to find out what happens next, at least to some extent. The basic concept is hardly original but its still an interesting thought - what if your suddenly having to deal with knowing the world will end and everyone will die, three weeks from now?, how will, or would, people deal with that?. Different scenarios or consequences are depicted, which do seem quite plausible, if not rather depressing, although I found myself questioning the chances of the more middle to upper class areas seeming to be almost unaffected by the sense of impending doom, while pretty extreme things are depicted as happening in other perhaps more run down areas - political/social commentary? hmmm.

There is the odd moment thats quite funny, not majorly laugh out loud funny but amusing in a way, partly due to the absurdity of the situations present I suppose. Its quite a quirky movie overall, as previously mentioned and its hard to entirely put my finger on quite how that is the case, other than what I've already mentioned. I think its saved by the two main characters which are pretty likeable, although opinions may vary from viewer to viewer of course but I found myself feeling sorry for Dodge - others might relate more to Penny. They both may be seen as having lost their way somewhat even before the impending doom came to be public knowledge but you get the sense that their basically good people at the end of the day and wanting to find their way through a confusing time.

I felt that the performances given were pretty good, pretty enthusiastic anyway, with Carrell again portraying a rather uncomfortable, somewhat shy and anxious middle aged man but it works well in this movie and Knightley gives a good performance as his extroverted neighbour, clearly more open minded but moreso optimistic, bright and pretty instantly likeable. The ending is rather dramatic but I felt that its credibility was rather negligible, not so much the fact of the world ending which, lets face it, the whole movie revolves around that but moreso the status of Dodge and Pennys relationship. I don't want to elaborate too much or it'll obviously lead to spoilers and could spoil enjoyment of the movie. I feel that for some it'll be a bit too sentimental in parts but those who hope for alot of that may be put off by the more crass sexual references featured mainly in the first half of the movie, so again it makes me wonder quite who this was targeted towards, rom-com fans or movies more like the American Pie franchise.

Theme wise, obviously its about the end of the world but it also tackles issues about loneliness and tackling being estranged from family members etc.

Content wise, there are the ocassional shock scene, with some bloody violence, although its pretty moderate but moreso (as already mentioned) there are sex references present, so this won't be to everyones taste. Other than that, there isn't too much likely to offend others I'd have thought - there may be some strong language although I can't recall anything particularly bad.

This isn't necessarily your average drama or romantic comedy movie, its quite quirky but also still entertaining. It works due to the different characters and I felt curious throughout to find out how everything panned out in the end, although I did feel frustrated with the lack of a sense of direction within it. I think it depends, some people might quite enjoy this movie, while others may watch it and feel it was disappointing, so it just depends but the performances given seemed pretty good to me and so I'd say if your a fan of the main cast, or would like to see something that isn't quite entirely the norm as it were, then its worth watching - hopefully that makes sense(?).