Review of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012) by Paul P — 01 Jan 2013

A really unexpected surprise of a film.

Watching the end of the world through the eyes of Dodge (Carell) we get to experience a series of both funny and dark events (crazy parties, suicides and riots etc) which lead us to the teaming of Dodge with Penny (Knightley) his neighbour on a road trip. I'm a sucker for flicks like this and this one in particular really connected with me. The balance between the absurdity of the situation and peoples behaviour is played out really well and having Carell's Dodge as our guide through this madness was a stellar move. The guy is awesome in this film. Watching him sleepwalking his way through life at the beginning through to his awakening as the film progresses is both uplifting and ultimately sad - The notion of not having enough time is played on here quite strongly. Knightley has also grown on me as an actress over the past couple of years and I enjoyed her work here a lot.

Where this film really worked for me is in its ending. It is played out in a strangely comforting and uplifting way without taking any easy ways out. This is one of my favourite films to arrive in 2012, it balances laughs, pathos and hope really well and has a terrific cast delivering the goods.