Seth Rogen and his longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg (the pair also directed this film) came with this brilliant premise and got a lot of their gifted comedy pals to be in it and just rolled with and the results are simply fantastic. There is hardly a minute that went by that I wasn't laughing my ass off (at some points, I was brought to tears I was laughing so hard.) The jokes fly fast and furious and just about all of them hit to varying degrees. The strength of the main cast combined with a slew of great cameos (including Michael Cera, Kevin Hart, Paul Rudd, Emma Watson and a lot more including two that are so hilarious and unexpected that I can't ruin them in this review.) A big part of what makes this film so fun is the brilliant satire of these actors playing themselves. Every single actor in this movie portrays a selfish, neurotic, and/or absolutely off-the-rails crazy person. Rogen, Goldberg and co. understand the pretentiousness of Hollywood and deliver an absolutely scathing satire of the big-headed, primadonna attitude that a lot of actors have throughout this film. The main cast of Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Craig Robinson and Danny McBride is essentially the modern comedy dream team. Having these six dudes trapped in a house together while the world is coming to end leads to copious amounts of great exchanges and memorable quotes. These guys all incredibly gifted at improv which makes certain scenes even funnier when you can tell they're coming up with amazing material on-the-spot. Rogen and Goldberg lay down the ground work with the scenarios and just let the cast run wild, which is really impressive and show just how elite of comedic talents everyone involved with this film is. While the entire cast is great playing insane, false versions of themselves and have ample moments where they shine, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson steal the show. McBride is the most psychotic, aggressive, self-centered member of the group and has possible the best set of dialogue in the movie when him and James Franco get into an argument over a porno magazine. McBride's version of himself is even more of an asshole than his Eastbound and Down character Kenny Powers and McBride delivers big time as a sarcastic jackass that not even his fellow actor buddies like. Robinson is equally as good as one of the more likable spoiled actors who has a change of heart midway through the movie and realizes that he is a self-centered dickhead. Robinson has tore up the comedy scene ever since his appearance in Pineapple Express and his comedic timing and line delivery only gets better over time. If there is a better comedy this year than This Is the End, I'll be shocked. It brilliantly combines traditional comedy, satire and horror-comedy elements to make a film that is almost endlessly quotable, entertaining and refreshingly original. If raunchy humor is your thing and you liked any of these actor's previous films, go see This Is the End immediately.
4.5/5 Stars
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