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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Mark Kermode

This Is the End – review

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Predictable levels of self-indulgence in this bloated and only sporadically chucklesome vanity project from Hollywood's new generation of superannuated frat boys. Co-director/writer Seth Rogen plays (a version of) himself, holing up with assorted sublebrity friends in James Franco's modernist bachelor pad when the apocalypse comes to Hollywood.

While a sweary mash-up of The Rapture and Ghostbusters (with riffs from Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist) probably made a great dope-fuelled party pitch, the reality is more sobering; a collection of the usual dick-and-spunk gags with added CGI monsters. The best thing in the movie is a short-lived appearance by Michael Cera as a coke-snorting creep whom everyone hates – thus making him by far the most likable presence on screen.

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