Review of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) by Pam R — 27 Aug 2014

Well that's a first, I put this on my 'want to see' list and then saw it that very same day.

When I saw that it had a 'disappointing final act', I was a little worried that meant the ending was going to be a cop out and there wasn't an asteroid at all, somehow. Which, in all honesty, I was ready for, I was suspecting that the filmmakers wouldn't be able to follow through with its very dark set up but I was proven wrong and I am happy for that.

At the start I was wondering where it was going as it felt a bit aimless but after about 20 minutes the film got rolling, quite literally, and the start of the very touching conversations began between two very well matched leads. The performances from Steve Carell and Keira Knightley are amazing, with Carell playing it low key and Knightley being unbelievably sweet, the movie rests entirely on their friendship and it works.

The movie had a very dark sense of humor but given the subject matter it makes sense and it also had very good themes behind it. It can be taken at face value as an end of the world romance, but if you really pay attention to what everyone is talking about, the movie is a lot deeper and feels a lot more emotional. I never thought the movie had any tonal shifts, when you're faced with the end of the world, I am sure people would be faced with a wide array of emotions. While that could be seen as a poor excuse to make up for lazy filmmaking, I never felt any tonal shifts and didn't even think about it until I read the critics consensus. I thought it was directed very well by Lorene Scafaria and by the end of it, I shed a tear.

The movie is very good but thinking back on it, it could have been a lot more if it was tweaked just a little bit. Although I liked it and connected with it on the emotional level I think it wanted me to, I can't help but feel like something was missing and even a day later after watching I cannot quite work out what it was.

This review isn't very long but I am not sure what else I can say. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a strange little movie that is underappreciated and would appear to be forgotten. The performances are good and it is very heartfelt, you know quite a bit about each lead character by the end which makes the tragedy hurt all the more, right up until its dark finale. Check it out if you're in the mood for a very different romantic movie.