“This Is The End” Is Celebs Versus The Apocalypse

Giant demon penis.

How you cope with reading those three words will determine whether or not you will enjoy “This Is The End.” Because you will see a giant demon that is anatomically correct storming the city of Los Angeles.

But along with that, you actually get a quite a few good laughs, tons of celebrity cameos, and some refreshing self-parody. Hollywood may take itself too seriously most of the time, but when it decides to poke fun at itself, it does a pretty good job of it.

And since Seth Rogen stars, and co-directed and write the script, you can expect some trademarks such as crude humor, a few drug-fueled party sequences, and plenty of bromance.

“This Is The End” revolves around six friends who just happen to be Hollywood actors playing warped (I hope) versions of themselves: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson. They're all at a party at Franco's house in Los Angeles (one that features the aforementioned cameos galore ranging from Emma Watson, Aziz Ansari, Rihanna, Michael Cera, and Mindy Kaling) when the apocalypse arrives. Soon the city is burning, most of the guests have fled or died, several LA residents have mysteriously vanished into the sky, and all six actors are holed up in the house.

And what do a bunch of self-absorbed, cowardly narcissists do when the end of the world seems near? They party like crazy, argue, and in their spare time, try to figure out what's going on and wonder when they'll be rescued, since they naturally assume that as they're all rich actors, help can't be far off.

Surprisingly, the part of the film when it's just these six actors stuck in a glamorous Hollywood home is when it starts to drag. That's when it becomes the most obvious that this is after all, a vanity project, and there aren't any other celebrities around that are willing to make complete fools of themselves to offset this impression. (Speaking of which, gotta give major kudos especially to Michael Cera and Channing Tatum for perving it up with such reckless disregard for basic decency.)

But “This Is The End” also becomes a sort of send-up to disaster films and LA life. Both are rather easy targets, but you have to give props to all the people who are willing to depict themselves in such a horrible way. And it's only when the guys are forced to leave the house and they learn what's really going on that they are forced to confront who they have become, and learn a few things about friendship and redemption. If you are a fan of them already, you'll be laughing the whole time.

Grade: B-