This Is the End

Mission accomplished. Rihanna shook her ass, Hermione smacked Rogen in the face with an axe, Hill tried an exorcism on his own body, and Craig Robinson scored the most iconic line ever uttered at the gates of heaven. The humour is inconsistent and often misses the mark, the script impresses more as a sequence of various parodies than as a crazy whole, and the gory scenes are overly self-indulgent and unnecessary, but as an American one-off crap, it maintains a very tolerable level. Moreover, the actors were beautifully cast, and their dimensionless honesty and spitting on their own characters shows that Hollywood stars are not just superheroes and charitable icons. Robert Downey should have been here, though :D 70% (2013-12-08)

The funniest moment of This Is the End is when Michael Cera smacks Rihanna's ass. The boys had fun with this one. Laughing with them in their “real” presence at dick jokes and sincere critical self-reflection has potential to be cool entertainment, but it would need a more sophisticated screenplay. This seems slapped together spontaneously in one evening and revisited only on the set. Casting is not everything. The penis-demon in the climax and the final song are good. (2013-11-08)

From about half way through this was an improvised commercial for the Bible and MilkyWay, packed with snappy lines. Sumptuous sub-plots and cameos never seen before. Rihanna burns in hellfire, Michael Cera didn’t disappoint for the first time in his life, Hermione has an ax and Tatum delivers another good one this year. Everybody in the main gang rocks, but I rooted for Franco the most. I guffawed loud and frequently. I’m glad they’re doing the sequel to Pineapple Express. (2013-09-17)

Smarter than most viewers are willing to admit. Rogen's humor goes over the edge many times, but who can be mad when it's done in such a self-deprecating and ironic way. The studio execs must have freaked out at the test screening, which makes me wish Rogen and his crew all the more for the commercial success they've had overseas. Deservedly so, it’s probably the most sincere A-film to come out of the "dream factory" in years. (2013-09-16)

A really great premise which made a lot of actors finally look friendlier and more human to me, as they are basically playing themselves. Suddenly, however, there is a brutal apocalypse, which is a meaningless bullshit in all respects and the only thing keeping the movie afloat is a number of pretty brutal catchphrases of the individual actors, who put down and try to best each other. I like the fact that the actors were themselves and that several times they openly made fun of themselves. What I don’t like was that some jokes were pretty unnecessary and over the line. At times I laughed a lot, just to stop laughing afterwards and wait for another catchphrase that would make me happy again. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg came up with a great idea and a lot of the actors convinced me that they are a great group of friends who can make you laugh and that I should definitely reckon with them for the future of America. (2014-09-27)