Length: 107 min.

Hey, Seth Rogen! barks a paparazzo in the opening scene of This Is the End, the new comedy co-written and co-directed by Rogen, and co-starring Rogen as himself. You always play the same guy in the same movie. When are you going to do some real acting, man? The answer, evidently, is not quite yet but what a Rogen-ish way to admit it.

The Knocked Up and Funny People star's latest wheeze is a stoner comedy set during the Apocalypse, which strikes during a party at James Francos Hollywood mansion. Franco appears in the film as himself, as do the comedians Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and Jay Baruchel, all of whom are left behind when the righteous are raptured up to heaven.

Amidst the mayhem, some recognisable party-goers can be spotted: the pop star Rihanna plummets into hells fiery maw head-first, while Emma Watson escapes, only to return later in the film as a half-crazed survivor. Michael Cera, from Superbad and Juno, subverts his nebbishy screen persona for perhaps the first time ever, playing himself as a sex-crazed, drug-snorting lout. He is eventually speared through the lungs by a falling lamp-post.

Outside, Lovecraftian horrors stalk the fiery landscape; indoors, Rogen and the others board up the windows and decide to wait it out in endgame-like seclusion. The casts own vanities and foibles are amiably sent up: Franco, for example, has decorated his home with his own artworks, and Baruchels relative lack of success becomes a key plot-point.

Of course, This Is the End is nothing of the sort: its a continuation of Rogen and his co-stars established acts, with minimal tweaks to the formula. But why worry, while that formula still works? This may be Armageddon, but its not the end of the world.


Source: Telograph