This Is the End

The comedy of the year so far. Incorrect and vulgar, but smart. Self-aware and meta, but not forced. Here applies that the more you know (about the actors and the roles they usually play in their movies), the more you will laugh, as long as you are not a bore. But then, not everyone handles scatological and incorrect humour with the grace of Seth Rogen :) (09/29/2013)

This is the End is a comedy that is pulled from mediocrity by the actors playing themselves, a large number of parody and WTF scenes, but it is also marred by a number of silly and cheesy sequences that probably couldn't be avoided in a film like this. The best moments were a pretty funny parody of The Exorcist and a heavenly cameo by an unnamed band. In short, a film that satisfies as an average one-off and there is not the slightest need for anyone to ever see it again. (11/14/2014)

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. (09/16/2013)

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. (09/27/2014)

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. (11/08/2013)