1. The cast - I was really skeptical of the premise of getting all of these actors, most of whom are irritating, and having them play themselves. It sounded incredibly obnoxious. Luckily, it works really well, for the most part. The plot of the movie (aside from the whole "end of the world" thing) is that Jay Baruchel (mildy irritating) is visiting his best friend, Seth Rogen (super irritating, although not entirely his fault; instead it is mostly due to the fact that my neighbor sounds exactly like him and somehow thinks it's OK to call me "babe", so I hear "Hey, babe" in Seth Rogen's voice pretty much every day of my life. It's my own version of Hell.). Jay isn't exactly a fan of the L.A "scene", and his friendship with Rogen has been strained due to Rogen's burgeoning career. Rogen convinces him to go to a big bash at James Franco's house where we meet the rest of the group. Franco (on-and-off irritating) is a particular highlight with his somewhat creepy obsession with his former Freaks and Geeks co-star (Rogen), while Jonah Hill (the least irritating of the bunch) is hilarious as the nicest guy in the world. Craig Robinson (not memorable enough to be irritating) and Danny McBride (the absolute height of irritating) round out the main cast. I've never liked McBride in anything and this is no different. He's just not my idea of funny at all. I would have preferred to see more of Michael Cera (love him!!); although, I didn't really think his whole "coke-head" thing was very funny and neither was his bit with Rihanna. Speaking of Rihanna, let's talk about all those cameos!
2. The cameos - I was really looking forward to some amazing cameos. I heard they were there and I heard it's better if you don't know who they are. This is a lie. The trailer shows the main sequence in which 90% of the cameos happen. My entire knowledge of this movie was based on the trailer and one clip that played while Jonah Hill was on Jimmy Fallon to promote the movie. Yet, there is only one surprise cameo (two if you count the cameo at the very end; but that was foreshadowed like crazy. I would have been surprised if that didn't happen.). How disappointing is that? I'm very confused as to who everyone was raving about. Sure, Emma Watson was pretty funny - but it was IN THE TRAILER! People were quoting "Hermione just stole all of our shit" way before the movie was even released.
3. The apocalypse - It's weird that I am more impressed with the story than with the comedy. There are plenty of laughs, but none of them are very memorable. In fact, I saw this movie almost 2 weeks ago and I can't remember a single thing that made me laugh. This is similar to how I've experienced previous Seth Rogen movies, except, of course, Superbad (which is one of the funniest movies ever. I don't care what you say.). What I will remember is that the movie goes for it; apocalypse and all. It's not about them trying to save the world from "the end"; instead it's about the actual apocalypse - you know, the one that's in the Bible. It's actually really funny to think about it actually happening; like if the "good" people were "saved" by being sucked up into Heaven. I'm surprised it hasn't been done before, mostly because it's the most ridiculous thing ever. It works perfectly for a comedy, especially one that's based on actors (most of whom think they are somehow "better" than the rest of humanity). Overall, I enjoyed watching This Is the End; it's definitely the best comedy of the year, so far, but it's far from the "masterpiece" that some claimed.
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