Cast/crew: Written by & directorial debut of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, starring Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, with cameos including Emma Watson and Michael Cera.
Plot: House Party at James Franco’s house! Pity it’s the end of the world. We stay with Seth and Jay during the rapture/end of days in this disaster comedy film.
Thoughts on the film:
• Theatrical rejiggering of a 9-minute youtube short “Jay and Seth versus the Apocalypse”.
• As above, this adaptation is loaded up on celebrities, who all play parodies of themselves, and it’s great fun! Like Michael Cera is hilarious as an insecure coke fiend.
• There’s even a scene where Rogan & Franco are chatting about making a sequel to Pineapple Express. You get the impression that’s exactly how it happened – this film was created and fleshed out by the actors chatting during a party!
• The story of the film is tensions rising over food/resources, strained relationships (Seth and Jay, Danny McBride being a dick), trying to stay alive and figure out what’s going on. It’s the End of Days and the guys try to get raptured into heaven.
• The various CG demons are obviously implausible but look very surprisingly good, high res textures and models.
• Unfortunately the movie overstays it’s welcome, at least 20 minutes too long. Jonah being possessed is funny but there’s far too much shouting and trying to dodge/escape said demons is protracted.
The movie feels like it has a ton of ad-libbing, lots of quick-fire jokes. Here’s my favourites:
• Jonah Hill is so funny as the ultra nice guy, who wants to be friends with Jay so badly. When he talks to God, he mentions his film roles! Wonderful. He was my favourite character in this.
• Taking stock of their resources, specifically what drinks and type of weed. Amazing.
• They really love Milky Way.
• On the rapture: “Judgment Day? Like Terminator 2?”
• On sleeping arrangements: “How should we sleep? Dick to ass? Scarface?” (which is one in the middle with his arms cradling one on each side)
• There’s some fun cheesy deaths like getting decapitated and inadvertently playing football with a prosthetic head, kicking it away.
• Franco does a video confession like in “27 hours”, as Seth calls it. This whole film looks like it was tremendous fun to shoot.
• Re: Emma Watson staying with them, Jay’s worried about not giving off a “rapey vibe”, leading to a squabble and misinterpretation, which is hilarious.
• “His face looks like the police sketch of a rapist”
• Danny McBride has an overly crass cumming routine but it is good for a laugh.
• “You’re going to repeat a line from the exorcist?” “I’m sure they did the research”
Overall: A fun film, some good laughs with tons of cameos to enjoy. It just sticks around too long. Best watched with a group of friends. Recommend watching!
Man, this would be a great film for WWE to make. Imagine Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens as Seth & Jay, and you could bring in current and old wrestlers in supporting roles, like Snitsky and Heidenreich taking away Cole in the background!