I know what you're thinking. "Jesus Dave, it's the second day, and you're already breaking the formula!" Well, first off, cut the blasphemy. There's no need for that. And second. It's my blog, and I'll do what I want. And third, cool your jets man. Really.Okay, I doubt anyone was really that upset.
So, night two of Dave's Horror-a-thon, and I'm watching a comedy. And generally, I'm not a huge comedy fan. So what's the deal?
Well, This is the End is a comedy with a horror premise. So I'm counting it. I like most of the cast. Seth Rogan. James Franco. Jonah Hill. Jay whatever his name is (the skinny Canadian one). And a slew of other comedians. All the players that have made a name for themselves by playing themselves in pretty much every movie they're in. So, what are they doing in this movie? Well... playing themselves, actually. But literally playing themselves. As in, Seth Rogan is playing Seth Rogan. Not Seth Rogan is playing the Green Hornet, as imagined by Seth Rogan. Or Seth Rogan is playing Precious, based on the novel Push, by Sapphire. Make sense? No? Alright, lets move on.
The story is, Seth Rogan picks up his buddy Jay from the airport. They both play themselves, as actors and friends who haven't hung out in a while. Seth has made all kinds of new celebrity friends in LA, and Jay feels a little left out, so they're having a weekend of just bros hanging out. Video games. Beer. Pot. The usual Seth Rogan fair. I don't know, maybe it's because I was never a big druggie (shit, is that what you call it? Every term I'm thinking sounds like something a cop would say) but I never got that big a laugh out of the extended pot gags that frequent these movies. I don't want to be a wet blanket or anything, but it seems like all the humor revolves around people just smoking pot. Like, not really even doing anything funny. They're just smoking pot and having a good time. That's the punch line. Hmm. Must be funnier if you're stoned.
Anyway, they get that out of the way quick, and then Seth convinces his buddy to visit James Franco's new house for a housewarming party. Jay isn't a big fan of Seth's new Hollywood friends, and he gets dragged along complaining the entire way. Once they arrive at the party, we're treated to a lot of familiar faces, all playing themselves, either playing up their stereotypical media image, or doing a complete 180 on their public perception. Michael Cera falls into the latter category, and it's the funniest Cera has been in quite some time.
From there, shit starts to go down, and the story kicks into gear. I don't want to spoil too much since this is a pretty new movie, but I think the previews have pretty much revealed the main storyline. Suddenly, the Rapture happens. As in, the Christian Rapture. All the good souls are beamed up to Heaven, and all the rest of us are left on Earth. Which is now Hell on Earth. At first everyone thinks it's just an earthquake, but things get more and more sinister as it goes on. At first, I was a little worried about lumping this into the horror-comedy category, but by the end of the movie, it definitely earns the "horror" status, so I don't feel too bad including it. Jesus, the things I lose sleep over...
The surviving party goers barricade themselves inside Franco's house and try to survive the Apocalypse. That's essentially the plot. It's never boring though, because all of these actors have a great resume of films that they constantly reference and use to mock themselves. The movie also doesn't overstay it's welcome, which is something that can't be said for a lot of comedies in the last couple years. Like This is 40. Hilarious first 30 minutes. Overly long and dramatic remaining 2 hours. This Is The End keeps it at a pretty brisk 90 minutes, and just when it seems to be getting a little stale, they throw in a twist or two to change the plot up a little and turn the movie in a new direction. Again, I was surprised how much of a horror angle they took at times. Something I never would've guessed from the previews. However, I didn't think the previews looked that good anyway; I just gave it a shot from hearing an onslaught of overwhelmingly positive word of mouth. Right on mouths. You called it.
I could go into more detail, but that would be like someone explaining a joke, which kind of sucks all the humor out. Maybe that's why I'm not normally a big comedy movie guy. As someone who really enjoys analyzing and discussing movies, comedies really don't lend themselves to that thorough of an examination. If you get too involved in it, you just end up giving away the jokes, and being as I went into this pretty fresh, I thought it was hilarious. If I'd have known some of the gags beforehand, I don't know if I would've laughed as much. And if you're not laughing at a comedy, then what the hell is the point? I've always been more a fan of the really dry comedies, like Wes Anderson's films, or something like Shaun of the Dead or Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The comedy elements are terrific, and the reason is because the story is great first and foremost, so the comedic elements feel real and well-earned. It's not just people falling down stairs or getting kicked in the balls. Nail down a good story, that would be worth watching even without the laughs... then add the laughs. Holy shit, do I sound pretentious or what? And I wrote Murder Party! What the hell am I talking about?
Anyway- that's all I've got. Check out the movie. You won't be disappointed. Everyone in it is great and it's a lot of laughs. And you can even throw it into a Halloween rotation if you want, I think it's close enough, as long as you watch some really putrid, disturbing shit as well to even it out.
And for anyone who is really, really dying for a straight up horror review- here you go: This is my monster retrospective of the entire SAW franchise. I stumbled upon it today and re-read it. It's one of the funniest things I've ever written, and I still agree with everything I said. Give it a read, but make sure you free up an afternoon first cause Jesus, I just go unplugged on this thing.
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