This is the End would be more appropriately titled, This is the Movie My Friends and I Would Make if We had a Lot of Money. This is not to say that This is the End is a bad movie. It’s funny. It has its moments of sentiment, and the cast is redoubtable – or, as much as they can be playing themselves, or slight variations of themselves, or the themselves that they presume we assume they are. Perhaps encouraging a meta discourse is not this film’s agenda.
Or perhaps it is. After all, the film’s central plot point is the arrival of Judgment Day, which we find has nothing to do with Skynet, but everything to do with the ultra-vague prophecies in Revelations. And, the dawning of the Apocalypse just so happens to occur when Jay Baruchel (actually Jay Baruchel) comes to L.A., a city he loathes, to stay with his best friend Seth Rogan. Over the past few years – as the movie tells it – they have grown apart. Rogan has found fame and Baruchel hasn’t found as much, or he didn’t like it when he had it, so he left L.A. (This points a bit vague, but I suppose if we compare the frequency of Rogan on film to the frequency of Baruchel, there might be some truth to this plot point, but I doubt it.)
After smoking numerous joints, Rogan and Baruchel venture to James Franco’s new house, or, more appropriately, fortress, where they party with dozens of celebrities who use their cameos to mock their own success.
Here is where we might get a bit meta. As we encounter various celebrities, we see some that appear to mirror their screen persona. James Franco is a bit eccentric – and slightly in love with Rogan. Rogan is a huge pot head and kind of callow. Baruchel is a bit of a twitchy introvert. Craig Robinson is kind of an ass, but in a smooth sort of way. Then there are the celebrities that differ from how we would typically categorize them. Jonah Hill is a very polite, even-keeled, effeminately sentimental guy. Michael Cera – in what might be the funniest performance in the movie – is a coke head who enjoys juice boxes during threesomes. He dies early and hilariously.
So, I wonder whether This is the End begs the question whether we can differentiate between screen personas and actual personas. Having never met any of these people, determining the closeness of any role they’ve played their actual personas is impossible, but these actors in particular are often type cast in these similar roles. So, another question is posed: are they acting, or have they all found a lucrative and comfortable shtick? Or, is it a combination of both?
And, I suppose a follow up question here would be: what has happened to the state of cinema if we are choosing to pay for movies and glamorize celebrities who are only acting slightly more than an average reality television star?
And, in a way, it seems that the cast nods to the generic celebrity that they’ve inherited. This is not to say that none of the actors have worked for their parts, or that they aren’t good at what they do, but the premise of the film is rather debasing to celebrities in general. It’s Judgment Day, so those that are “good,” “worthy,” or in God’s good graces are immediately rescued when the world begins to burn with fire and brimstone. Those less than stellar human beings are forced to survive until they are consumed by roaming demons, starve, get unpleasantly possessed, or become good human beings.
Yet, none of the dozens of celebrities featured at Franco’s party are saved. Some scurry to freedom. Others fall into a giant fiery pit. One is impaled by a falling lamppost.
So perhaps the overall thesis is that celebrities are awful people. Or, at least that would be an argument to present if the movie were in fact the alternate title suggested in the first paragraph.
All of the half-hearted analysis aside, This is the End has its moments, but it is most often bogged down by its need to elicit laughs. And while there are a fair number of laughs, they disjoint any attempt at a story. The end of the world is nigh, so there’s not much else to explore other than Danny McBride’s penchant for masturbation, right?
