This Is the Original Ending of “Red State”
I’m not one for spoilers, generally, but if it’s not obvious in the first few minutes of This Is the End, you’re probably going to be lost. This Is the End is a supremely dark, raunchy, and strangely hilarious, movie about the Rapture.
Yes, you read that right. Flat out, this movie is about the end of days, the book of “Revelation,” the Rapture and Armageddon—they even read from the Bible to figure out what’s going on.
The movie opens with “Jay,” played by Jay Baruchel (How to Train Your Dragon and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), arriving in Los Angeles to visit his best friend “Seth Rogan,” played by Seth Rogan. After a short, drug filled, hang out session, they head to a party at “Franco’s House.” Franco, of course, is “James Franco,” played by James Franco. Also in attendance is a plethora of Hollywood’s B+ list. The movie is partially a parody of the central cast’s friendly relationships. Jay, for example, hates Jonah Hill (you should be seeing a trend in casting by now). Jonah, conversely, is very concerned with getting Jay to like him. To flee this squabble, Jay and Seth go to a convenience store. While buying cigarettes, the ground opens up, fires start, and two thirds of the population is lifted into the sky by blue lights—seriously, it is the Rapture.
The entire guest list of James Franco’s party (more cameos than a Muppet movie) is “Left Behind.” Most of them are killed or sucked down in a few minutes of terrifying hilarity. Jay, Seth, James Franco, Jonah, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride remain to attempt to survive roaming demon hounds, growing fires, a really justifiably pissed off Hermione Weasley (they got married right?), and Satan clawing in through their own selfishness.
It is this last one that makes the movie interesting, and also really funny. The film is really about caricatures of these well-known actors trying to resolve their own relationships with each other. The interactions, which are largely ad lib, are where the best humor of the film lays. It should be noted that the people in the film are fictional characters, loosely based on the actors playing them. It’s a sort of “who you would imagine the people behind the characters in their films might be”—narcissistic self-absorbed drug-addicts who rip on each other’s performances and want to get together to hang out, or do sequels to their favorite films, you know, if someone has a camera.
All in all, I really enjoyed it. It really is unlike any other film. It is all the most off-color stuff these guys couldn’t get away with in other films. We’re pretty open about liking raunchy stuff here, and this film is no exception. I laughed openly and loudly, sometimes wondered if I should be laughing, but did anyway.
One warning: I think the MPAA might have gotten it wrong. This film is only rated “R.”