The World’s End

Simon Pegg realizes there’s no escape from rabid Star Trek fans.

(2013) Sci-Fi Comedy (Focus) Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan, Pierce Brosnan, Bill Nighy (voice), Michael Smiley, David Bradley, Thomas Law, Zachary Bailess, Jasper Levine, James Tarpey, Luke Bromley, Steve Oram, Luke Scott, Darren Boyd, Rafe Spall, Alice Lowe, Flora Slorach, Rose Reynolds, Samantha White. Directed by Edgar Wright

As we grow to middle age it isn’t uncommon to look back at our youth with a kind of longing. We miss that feeling that everything was ahead of us and that life can only get better. The regrets we do have are generally not for the things we did but for the things we didn’t do.

Gary King (Pegg) can relate. Just out of school, he was King Gary, the guy all the guys wanted to hang out with and be like, and the guy all the girls wanted to be with. He and his four best mates – Andy Knightley (Frost), Oliver “O-Man” Chamberlain (Freeman), Steven Prince (Considine) and Peter Page (Marsan) – were inseparable. They even attempted the legendary Golden Mile – 12 pubs in their hometown of Newton Haven in a single night. They failed but during the course of the evening Gary managed to make out with Oliver’s sister Sam (Pike) and have the best night of his life. It was 1990, the millennium was ten years off and music was awesome – Madchester was in full glory and so was Gary in a black leather trench coat.

The trouble is that we don’t stay young forever. 1990 passed into history and it’s almost 25 years later. The lads have moved on and become middle aged men but Gary hasn’t changed much. He’s an alcoholic who has turned from the guy boys want to be like and girls want to be with into the guy men want to be the opposite of and women want to be miles away from. He still is as inconsiderate and selfish as ever, and his ego is bigger than Tommy Lee’s libido.

The failure to complete the Golden Mile has gnawed at him over the year and finally he gets the notion to get the old gang back together, head over to Newton Haven and do the Golden Mile up properly – and finish the job this time. Of course the others are reluctant but Gary is persuasive and manipulative and uses his charm (and a few outright lies) to get them to go.

At first when they get down to it, things are a little awkward. The boys – now men – don’t have a lot to say to one another. But as the pints begin to flow, things loosen up and soon it’s like old times. They’re laughing, recalling past triumphs (and embarrassments) and generally remembering why they were mates in the first place.

But their old times were never like this. There’s something strange going on in Newton Haven and the lads have stumbled into something out of a John Wyndham nightmare. The bonds of their friendship will be tested as Gary’s obsession to finish the Golden Mile may just get them all killed.

Wright, Pegg and Frost have developed a cult following through their collaborations Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. This is the third in what they call the Cornetto Three Flavour trilogy – so named for a British ice cream treat that figures in each of the movies. Each of the films stands alone and concerns completely different characters and genres but the results have been hilarious and this one just might be the best of the lot.

Part of what makes the movie work is the easy camaraderie between the five main characters. You can easily believe that they’ve been mates for a good long while. They do take the piss out of one another quite a bit which is what good friends do (when they’re male) but the affection is genuine.

There are plenty of special effects and while they aren’t of the hundred million dollar budget variety, they are better than average and don’t take you out of the movie. In fact, compared to some of the movies this past summer with plenty more money to spend, the effects were even superior.

Of course, you’d expect funny from this group and they deliver. Gary’s dim-witted narcissism, Steve’s hangdog loyalty, Oliver’s somewhat defensive posture, Andy’s tee-totaling and Peter’s fears make for good comedy. The script is clever and the soundtrack impeccable.

If I have any criticisms it’s with the middle third which tends to drag a little bit. Once the third act kicks in, the action is rip roaring. In a summer blockbuster season which has to be classified as disappointing in terms of quality, The World’s End stands out head and shoulders above the rest as the best film of summer 2013.

REASONS TO GO: Hysterically funny. Effects aren’t bad either. Awesome soundtrack.

REASONS TO STAY: Runs a bit long in the middle section. Awkward in places.

FAMILY VALUES:  A whole lot of bad language, some sci-fi action, some sexuality and a couple of disturbing images.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The sign on The King’s Head features a portrait of director Edgar Wright, sitting in for a royal.

CRITICAL MASS: As of 9/5/13: Rotten Tomatoes: 90% positive reviews. Metacritic: 81/100.

COMPARISON SHOPPING: This is the End

FINAL RATING: 8/10

NEXT: Supernova

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This is the End

Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel discover that The World’s End is opening after their film.

(2013) Sci-Fi Comedy (Columbia) Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, Emma Watson, Channing Tatum, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, David Krumholtz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Paul Rudd, Martin Starr, Samantha Ressler, Jason Segel, Catherine Kim Poon, Anna Rekota. Directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen   

 

This is the end

beautiful friend

Of our elaborate plans, the end

Of everything that stands, the end

Can you picture what will be

limitless and free

And all the children are insane.

                 – Jim Morrison

The apocalypse is very much on our minds this summer. Perhaps it was because the world was supposed to end last year (and maybe it did and nobody told the rest of us). Be that as it may, there are a bunch of movies out there (or about to come out) that have the end of days as a plot point.

This one comes from Pineapple Express co-writers Rogen and Goldberg (who in addition to co-directing this one also co-wrote it) who rope in fellow Express star Franco in a movie in which most of the actors are playing Bizarro-world versions of themselves.

Baruchel lands at LAX where he is met by good friend Rogen. Their friendship goes back to when they were both struggling comics in Canada. Baruchel is looking forward to a weekend hanging out with his good friend who supplies them both with copious video games on an HD 3D TV, all of Jay’s favorite snacks and of course ample amounts of weed.

Rogen drags a reluctant Baruchel to a housewarming party at Franco’s home which can best be described as a pretentious post-modern bunker. It turns out he has a creepy kind of friendship with Rogen, which Baruchel doesn’t appreciate. He also doesn’t like most of the people at the party, particularly Hill who seems sweet and giving (and whom everyone seems to adore) but for some reason Baruchel has real enmity towards.

There are plenty of celebrities there – a coke-snorting, butt-slapping Cera who Kaling wants to do the horizontal fandango with, a rapping Robinson who wears the name of his new rap song on a t-shirt and several other young stars, mostly from the comedy community. However, the party abruptly ends when a massive earthquake hits the L.A. area, opening fissures in the earth. Baruchel witnesses people ascending to the sky in a strange blue light but nobody believes him – Baruchel thinks it’s the apocalypse while the survivors who ran back into the house (after watching one of the stars get skewered by a street lamp and dragged down into the bowels of the earth) – Franco, Rogen, Hill, Robinson and Baruchel – scoff at his story. Me, I thought it was aliens to begin with.

They discover an uninvited McBride had been sleeping one off in Franco’s bathroom and had, unaware of what was happening outside, cooked almost all of their food for breakfast. As it turns out, Baruchel isn’t far off and in the world of hedonistic egos that is Hollywood, heaven isn’t an option. Or is it?

I had high hopes for this one coming in. Rogen can be hysterically funny as a writer and given all the talent involved, there was reason for optimism. The trailer rocked pretty hard too. Safe to say, this is a major disappointment.

For one thing, there’s an overreliance on dick and weed jokes. I’m no prude – trust me, I don’t mind crude, raunchy and drug humor – but after the same subject of jokes over and over and over again it gets old. Even stoners need a change of subject.

I’m not saying that the movie isn’t funny. There are some real laugh out loud moments (some of which weren’t even in the trailer) but I just expected more. High expectations (no pun intended) can sometimes shape a review, perhaps unfairly.

Yes, there is plenty of skewering of the self-centered and self-destructive behavior that Hollywood is notorious for, but do we really need another movie about that? I mean, it’s not as if this is some sort of new and revelatory information here.

It feels like a massive in-joke that maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to get. I like these actors individually but this smacks too much of self-indulgence and just didn’t get me laughing enough to overcome the perception. While I’m fully aware that these “self-portraits” are characters loosely based on the celebrity involved (and in the case of Cera and I’m sure a few others, having nothing to do with the personality of the celebrity involved) it’s still not the point. The point is that the movie just isn’t as good as it should have been, nor did it tickle my funny bone the way it should have. I have no doubt that there are people who found this to be right in their wheelhouse – my good friend Adam has already proclaimed this the funniest movie of the year and the final scene set in the afterlife is certainly going to make my son cackle louder than a Who concert – but I’m just not going to be one of them. Make of that what you will.

REASONS TO GO: Really great cast and some nifty cameos.

REASONS TO STAY: Relies way too much on dick and drug humor.

FAMILY VALUES:  Lots and lots of crude humor, drug use, sexuality, quite a bit of foul language, some brief nudity, apocalyptic religious images and violence.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: All the paintings in James Franco’s home were actually painted by James Franco.

CRITICAL MASS: As of 6/16/13: Rotten Tomatoes: 85% positive reviews. Metacritic: 68/100; the reviews have been for the most part scathing.

COMPARISON SHOPPING: Cabin in the Woods

FINAL RATING: 5/10

NEXT: Man of Steel