Movie Review: What’s so funny about the rapture in 'This is the End'?

Everything! Especially when a cadre of comedians are forced to survive in each others’ strained company.

You need to know that this movie is just like a supersized triple-patty fast food burger. It’s filled with additives, chemicals, and things that, in the long run, are bad for your dendrites but sure are deliciously, unequivocally hilarious.  

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are the same guys who brought us the millennial hophead classic “Pineapple Express” and here, they once again showcase their droll filmmaking skills by portraying why comedians will get the last laugh even during the Biblical rapture and how their bromance is just as twisted as their careers.

Though all the actors here more or less play themselves, you need to remember that these are fictionalized versions and not the real deal. Going meta is just one of the farcical weapons that add to the layers of fun here.

“People think they know everything about you based on the characters you play,” says Rogen in the film’s production notes. “So we thought it would be funny to play into that—to have these characters that behave in the way that everybody thinks is what we’re like off-screen. There are elements of our real selves, but we all twisted them or exaggerated them to make it funny.”

The story opens with Jay Baruchel (“Tropic Thunder”) arriving in LA to visit and stay with his old pal Seth Rogen (“Green Hornet”). After a righteous time smoking weed, playing videogames, and clowning around Rogen’s house, they head on over to a party hosted by James Franco (“Spring Breakers”). Jay is reluctant, mostly because Jonah Hill (”Moneyball”)—whom he hates—might be there, but he goes anyway.

Franco’s housewarming party is full of celebrities and actors in attendance: a bummed out Christopher Mintz-Plasse, a coked up and horny Michael Cera, a put upon Rihanna, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Mindy Kaling (lusting after Michael Cera), Aziz Ansari, and Emma Watson.

Jay is instantly on his guard and uncomfortable being around so many people he doesn’t know. Things get worse when the core group of Franco, Jonah Hill, and Craig Robinson, start to party it up and bum him out. When they run out of cigarettes, Jay askes Seth to come with him to a convenience store and everything goes sideways from there.

Beams of blue light drop down from the sky, whisking away several store customers like tractor beams. The rapture is here but the comedians have been left behind. When they get back to Franco’s house they witness a great big hole of fire open up in the ground and swallow up most of the celebs.


Trapped in Franco’s house, Jay, Seth, Jonah, Craig, including James Franco (and later Danny McBride, who was apparently sleeping in a bathtub when everything went down) decide to make the best of the post-apocalypse and assess their supply situation while figuring out the best means of survival.

Who dies first among the comedians? Who gets flown up to heaven bathed in blue light?

You may think this is just all fun scenarios but there’s also a strong undercurrent of a tale of damaged friendship, survival, and the perils of bogarting a Milky Way bar.

Seth and Jay, friends since they were kids in Canada, are trying to figure out where their friendship is heading. Franco just can’t stand Danny being brusque and crazy, while Jonah Hill tries so hard to befriend Jay, but in a patronizing way. Likely the only odd man out is Craig Robinson, who’s like the stereotyped requisite black man in a house full of screwed up white people.

The surprising thing about this movie, since it’s nominally set in the post-apocalypse I mean, is that the special effects are more than decent. The demons and the miraculous stuff look fine and polished. Things actually move when a creature bumps or crashes into them. Still, what does a comedy with demons and the end of the world require? An exorcism! Who among the cast members gets possessed and needs a righteous, old school holy intervention? No spoilers here.

Even that scene is proof of how the chemistry between these six is so tight that the improvisation flows effortlessly and really what makes this hodge-podge of a movie work. Like a 12-limbed creature awkwardly learning to walk, their own flaws are the only thing that keeps this from falling flat on its face.

Rogen and Franco are like a demented Cheech and Chong powered by bromance and weed. Jay Baruchel makes for the uptight straight man that puts tension in the mix. Danny McBride is always awesome as a villain, but even more so as a villain who plays himself. He actually infuses pathos and hurt into his role so even if he’s done the most disgusting thing he comes across as just misunderstood. And when you find out what he does to Channing Tatum near the end, you’ll hate him even more.

One of the best side stories is with Emma Watson (“Perks of Being a Wallflower”). Which involves an axe, the threat of rape, and theft. And how did they get Hermione to do this? They wrote the only female part for her and wooed her and called her agent.

“I was taken aback—why did they think of me?” said Watson “But then I read the script, and it was so funny. I’ve never done a comedy like this one. . .how could I miss out on that?”

One of the things to watch out for, if you’re a fan of the comedy work of these actors, is a home made sequel to 2008’s “Pineapple Express” (which most of the group had appeared in) that the barkada filmed to pass the time—along with copious drug use and drinking of alcohol. There’s also the appearance of the Backstreet Boys for the generation that grew up in the 90s.

Sure, it’s absurd. Sure it’s devoid of redeeming narrative and moral exposition, but damn is this thing a rollercoaster of a ride to watch. Leave the kids at home, buy your popcorn, sit back and laugh with the funny men at the end of days. — VC, GMA News

"This Is the End" is rated R-16 without cuts is now screening exclusively at Ayala Mall cinemas nationwide.