THIS IS THE END - A Decent Way To Go

       Hello, WORLD!! Smokkee here, for now. With all the apocalyptic movies that have been coming out lately, it almost seems like the end is nigh. But who knows right? Actually, if MELANCHOLIA, SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD, ZOMBIELAND, and WARM BODIES are any

indication, maybe it won't be so bad after all. I loved those movies & I'm half-halfheartedly adding THIS IS THE END to that group. It's not quite as good as the former movies but it still manages to entertain.

       THE END starts out with Seth Rogan meeting his friend Jay Baruchel at LAX. Seth is played by a Seth Rogan and every almost every other actor in this movie is playing a version of themselves as well. It's clear early on that there's gonna be tons of self depreciating humor in this movie when the in the opening scene alone Seth gets ridiculed for the GREEN HORNET, his laugh, and the fact that he plays the same character in every movie. Almost everybody has a little fun with themselves and there's tons of stars in this movie, from Rihanna to Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse. I won't reveal everbody though because part of the beauty of star cameos is finding out the that star was in the movie in the first place. One star's cameo towards the end of this movie in particular and the manner in which he appears is beyond insane. 

        Jay is out in LA for to visit but makes it clear from the onset that he hates LA and LA-ish people. He just wants to hang out with his buddy Seth. Seth has a better idea: he talks Jay into attending a party hosted

Michael Cera's cameo almost steals this whole movie.

by James Franco at his new house with people like Franco, Jonah Hill, & Michael Cera (who makes every scene he's in hysterical) in attendance. LA-ish people.

         Needing some air from all of the LA-ness, Jay heads for a convience store with Seth in tow and that's when all hell breaks loose. Literally? Maybe... Anyway, when all is said and done, only Seth, Jay, James, Jonah, and Craig Robinson are still alive at Franco's house. The spend time trying to make sense of it all in between making movies like PINEAPPLE EXPRESS 2 to entertain themselves.
        
         If you loved any of the earlier Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg movies, you'll love this one too I suppose. I liked this movie enough to recommend it but I did have some problems with it. First, at 106 minutes, this movie last entirely too long. It's premise starts to wear thin towards the middle. And it has a strong sexual innuendo that appears early in the movie and stays throughout the movie but doesn't quite provide the chuckles I imagine the writers thought it would. This movie isn't super bad but it isn't SUPERBAD either. Here's hoping Simon Pegg's similiar themed comedy AT WORLD'S END due out this August is as good or better than this.  C+