Review of This Is the End (2013) by Logicbomb — 21 Jun 2013

I really should stop doing reviews a week later. "This is the End" is an apocalyptic comedy film that ask one important question. Can a movie be good if it is just one big cameo? The answer is, well, read the review.

First the concept, a cameo is basically any reason to star someone famous in the hope that it makes your movie seem better, despite that character having no real point in the movie. It is a cheap ploy to sell more tickets to the movie as it gives the would be audience the feeling that the character will play a major role when they don't(ex: the scary movie franchise).

It really shows just how big of whores writers and producers are. That being said, again can this work in the concept of the movie? Actually, yes it can.The actors aren't playing characters they are playing themselves.

And I gotta say they seem to have fun with it and appear to act like they are known for acting like; Seth Rogen is calm yet sarcastic, Jonah Hill is kind to a fault, Jay Baruchel is very religious and Danny McBride is an irredeemable douche.

They know there movies and everything, so they come off as genuine unlike other shameless cameos. Speaking of which: The movie starts with Rogen and Baruchel going to a party filled with cameos at James Francos house.

People like: Rihanna, Michael Cera, Aziz Ansari, Kevin Hart, Paul Rudd and others. Most of which are violently and hilariously killed off pretty quickly.(granted this mostly cause I have a dark sense of humor, up until this part the movie was pretty dry).

Our Protagonist must then survive by living inside of Franco, so the monster don't attack and kill them. Why don't the monsters just break in and slaughter them, especially since it is shown in two scenes that they are able to? I don't know.

It's never explained. Maybe the demons are just with them. This is one thing I like about the movie does well. Aside from the great jokes that are told, whenever a character is killed it is funny as hell and never feels unceremonious.

As the story goes on we get an influx of funny jokes, however this is also a problem with the movie. IT IS FILLED WITH FILLER!!! This movie is over 2hrs long but it doesn't feel that way for two reasons.

One the jokes and two all the crap that if it wasn't here the movie wouldn't be affected(aka big-lipped alligator moments). However with that being said the story(which is based on a 2007 short comedy film called Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse) isn't very good.

Not the worst this year(that would be The Purge) but it has room for improvement. Also while I like the spoken jokes the physical comedy is pretty low-brow. Granted sometimes that's funny like Satan getting his dick cut off an grabbing his crotch in pain.

However most of it is just gross and distracting. Speaking of distracting this movie has some of the worst special effects I've seen in a while. Even when compared to The Asylum. Who is The Asylum? Wiki them and look up their movies.

Yeah that bad. The monster CGI is bad and the green screen is terrible. It is obvious the budget, which for a movie like this wasn't very high, was spent on the cameos. Something else that gets in the way is the religious undertones which in my opinion just aren't handled correctly and are really out of place in a movie like this.

But to me the most egregious thing about this movie is the ending. This move, like I said, is over 2hrs. They spend only about 15 min wrapping it up in a and contrived way. When I saw this ending all I could think was the writers needed a resolution and instead of creatively making one they just rushed a poorly done one.

and No amount of Backstreet Boys will change that. They could have made a better ending if the had cut out some of the filler. I was laughing so hard most of the movie which I normally don't especially for comedies(cause lets face it good comedies are a dieing art).

However there are just so many mistakes that were made during the flick: The filler, the ending the fact that Wil Ferrel isn't here so he could die painfully.....ok that last one is counted but you get what I mean.

This in my still brings This Is the End to a 7/10 a great film. Does the movie have its problems? Yes. Like that dumbass ending, but it will not keep most people from having fun with it. That is until they inevitably make a sequel/spin-off.

If you haven't seen this movie I would see it and form your own opinion. Plus Channing Tatum is Danny McBride's Nuff Said.