Monday, July 8, 2019

This is the End Revisited or: A Trifecta of Good Aspects that Make for a Great Comedy (Film Analysis)



There’s a simple story that comes with my first viewing of This is the End.  I went into the theaters in a particularly sour mood and came out with the biggest smile on my face.  A film that can get rid of a bad attitude is automatically a success, but This is the End goes a few steps above your typical Seth Rogan stoner film.  I originally referred to such elevation as a trifecta of good cast, comedy, and heart.  Revisiting the film, however, has given me better clarity as to This is the End’s true trifecta and why it so effectively resonates with me.


MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ONWARD!

Trifecta Piece #1: Self-Parody and Hollywood Satire

Every recognizable actor in This Is the End plays a fictionalized version of themselves.  Right from the start, Seth Rogen is called out by fans and bothered by paparazzi as he waits at the airport for his friend—both in real life and in the film—Jay Baruchel.  The film is a raunchy, stoner version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World—an extravaganza of comedy actors along with some additional popstars.  There’s Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Kevin Hart, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mindy Kaling, Michael Cera, Aziz Ansari, Jason Segel, Emma Watson, Rihanna, and a few other surprise appearances along the way.  The comedy writes itself here as the actors mingle as they might (more on that in a bit) in real life.  One great scene has a stoned Seth Rogan and his doting friend James Franco discuss making a ridiculous sequel to Pineapple Express (which they end up filming as a hilarious, fake trailer).

The exaggeration of each actor’s self-parody varies from mild to over-the-top.  Michael Cera, who is often typecast as the meek nice guy, plays a total douchebag version of himself.  In one scene he blows coke into his Superbad co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse's face—much to the latter’s horror—causing the overly positive (yet subtly pretentious) nice guy Jonah Hill to scold Cera as he tries sniffing some residue coke in Mintz-Plasse’s mustache.  Now I like to believe this isn’t an actuate depiction of Cera in real life (though with actors you can never be too sure), yet he and the other actors doing a remarkable job selling it as their actual selves (Seth Rogan has it the easiest since he’s been playing his real self since the mid-2000s).

Trifecta #2: A Stoner Rapture and More Hollywood Satire

Trifecta #1 is already a solid selling point for the film, and I would have been down for it being the entire film’s main premise, but then This is the End gets to its second layer and main selling point: The Apocalypse.  The film’s tone shifts when people surprisingly start getting beamed up in LA and the world goes to literal Hell for those left behind.  The film gets gruesome as it begins overkilling the actors in an awesome black comedy fashion.  Michael Cera gets impaled by a streetlamp while looking for his cellphone, Kevin Hart starts kicking Aziz Ansari clinging to him while trying to escape a huge sinkhole to Hell (dismembering Aziz’s arm), etc.  The surviving party members, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Craig Robinson, James Franco, Jonah Hill and later revealed Danny McBride hide out in Franco’s fortress-like house as the outside world burns.

The situation sounds grim and horrific, yet this is where the comedy really starts to roll.  What do you get when you put a bunch of stoner comedians into an apocalyptic situation?  Complete, hilarious mood dissonance.  The world is burning within the fires of Hell, yet Seth is more worried about if Jay’s pissed off at him.  A helicopter explodes outside, yet Craig freaks out over a small cut on his finger.  A man gets decapitated before their eyes, by a demon right outside, and the group decides it’s best to do lots of drugs.  There is this bizarre yet sidesplitting running gag where Seth Rogan’s biggest fear is getting titty f***ed by rapists.  There’s an absolutely stupid, yet really funny argument between James and Danny about porno mags and ejaculating as Seth stands by and is barely able to keep a straight face (the film's comedy was largely improvised).  Oh, and then there’s the entire Emma Watson scene, a moment that would be incredibly uncomfortable if it wasn’t so rich in hysterical comedy gold.  There are even a few horror parodies thrown in the plot, such as Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcism of Jonah Hill, where Jonah becomes possessed by a demon yet still talks in Hill’s nonchalant manner…but evilly!

Jay (in a makeshift priest getup complete with a spatula cross): Jonah Hill? Jonah? Jonah Hill.

Demon Jonah: Jonah Hill is no more. Jay, you fool.

Jay: I say unto thee, the power of Christ compels you!

Demon Jonah: Oh, does it? Does it compel me?

Jay: The power of Christ compels you!

Demon Jonah: Does it, Jay? Is the power of Christ compelling me? Is that what's happening? Guess what? It's not that compelling.

Seth: Jay, you serious right now? That's your plan? You're gonna repeat lines from The Exorcist?

Jay: I would assume they did their research.

Seth: It's a movie!

Jay: It's a manual. It's a training manual.

This is the End does not hold back its punches towards Hollywood actors.  There are some ruthless jabs towards specific actors and their profession in general.  When the Rapture begins, no one at Franco’s party is affected, and when they notice, the group become a bunch of chickens; “We are actors! We pretend to be hard, man. Yeah. We soft as baby s***.”

Jonah: A huge earthquake happens. Who do they rescue first? Actors. Famous people. They'll get Clooney, Sandra Bullock, me. If there's room, you guys'll come.

The group is so self-absorbed, they can’t comprehend why they were left behind on Earth:

James: Guys, I think this is sort of bull****, because we're all good people. I can look at each one of you in the eye, I know you're good. We're four actors. We bring joy to people's lives

Seth: I think God might have just f***ed up, made a mistake, and left us behind by accident. I mean, He's got a lot of s*** on His plate.

There are two different points where Danny straight up roasts the other surviving actors:

Danny: Seth, that's a better performance than you've given in your last six movies. Where the f*** was that in Green Hornet, huh?  Jonah, you're f***ing sucking balls. You're an Academy Award-nominated person. You need to be f***ing selling that s***, dude.

Trifecta #3: A Human Heart and…Possible Hollywood Satire?

At This is the End’s core is a human heart, mainly the friendship between Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel—old friends who have grown distance since becoming Hollywood celebrities.  Jay is a relatable character within the sea of Hollywood actors—an introvert not really into the LA lifestyle (whereas Seth has embraced it) and feels out-of-place at Franco’s party.  I’m once again uncertain how much here is truth in fiction, but the duo effectively sell it as a conflict that could have happened, or did happen, in reality.  The film has some genuine moments of the “actors” getting real—mostly between Seth and Jay, but also with Craig who ends up being the film’s surprise tritagonist.  In one scene, Jay suggests to Craig about leaving the group:

Jay: What are we going back for? In theory, we could just stay here.

Craig: All I know is I'm scared as hell, and I just want to get back to our friends.

Jay: Yeah, but they're not my friends.

Craig: Seth is your friend.

Jay: We've been growing apart for years. That's why I didn't stay with him last time I was here. And I stayed with him this time to try and salvage it, but clearly, that didn't work out.

Craig: Jay, like it or not, those a**holes are all we got.

Craig develops and grows over the film, becoming more selfless and guilt-ridden over past actions.  There’s a scene where the group talks about their past sins with surprise seriousness, almost as if the actors themselves are confessing (Franco’s confession about rape by deception is definitely a crime that could have happened in reality.).  The genuine character moments create a connection with…some of these self-absorbed stoners (namely Seth, Jay, and Craig) and generate actual tension in a finale that does not deserve to be as epic as it is.

The cherry on top is the surprise Backstreet Boys appearance, singing Backstreet’s Back during the film’s heavenly finale.  Not everyone will think this is the perfect ending, and they’re entitled to their opinion even if it’s wrong.  This is the End is a trifecta of good elements that end up making a great comedy.  A stoner rapture featuring self-parodies in a Hollywood satire with a human heart at its core.  This is the End is hilarious fun, highly entertaining, and genuinely pleasant for how raunchy it can get.  I stand by that it is the best comedy of 2013 and add on that it’s one of the decade’s best comedies.

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