This is the End by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

This is the End by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

While attending a party at James Franco’s house, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel and many other celebrities are faced with the apocalypse.

First off, I want to say I am a fan of the Judd Apatow team. Before Judd Apatow made The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, I wasn’t really into the American comedies that were dominated by Ben Stiller, Will Ferrel and Vince Vaughn. The improvisational nature of Apatow’s comedy and the crude sophomoric jokes infused with a heartfelt message hit me on a deeper level. As a lover of buddy cop movies, I’m also generally a sucker for bromance movies, of which I would argue is a close relative. Most of all, I like Apatow’s cast of actors. Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, James Franco… they’re all funny in their own idiosyncratic way and seem to have free reign over their own personas.

This brings me to my first critique of This is the End. The central gag of having the actors play themselves isn’t as funny as the film thinks it is. For example, This is the End‘s version of Michael Cera is a foul-mouthed cocaine addict. Why? Because the filmmakers thought it’d be funny to do a total reversal on Cera’s real life persona. That gag is only truly funny if we know what Michael Cera is like in real life. Most of us, unlike the filmmakers, can only drawn upon Michael Cera’s timid onscreen persona. That creates enough of a contrast to elicit laughs and it does. However, the filmmakers are ultimately more connected to the joke than the audience can ever be, and that is problematic on some level. I get the feeling I should be laughing harder than the film is making me.

Just to reiterate, I did laugh. There were times when the celebrity gag won me over. I liked how the character relationships were set up and they all have great chemistry. Jay Baruchel plays the audience’s avatar and reacts to all colors of obnoxious behavior exhibited by the other actors. Actually, the film even takes it one comedic step further. When Danny McBride enters the film, he does his brand of obnoxious behavior that happens to be so overwhelming, the other annoying actors call him on it and ask him to stop.

When the film doesn’t rely on the celebrity gag and gives something for the characters to do to survive the Apocalypse, it’s much more creative and funnier. I liked the graphic novel-like style that went into the world creation of the apocalypse. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg deliver some surprises to what’s going on outside James Franco’s house. The parts in between that didn’t pertain to surviving the Apocalypse are strung by improvisational dialogue scenes and they stick out as the weaker moments. I recognize the ability to improvise scenes and be funny on camera, but watching the cast react to the fantastical elements was more interesting than watching the celebrities react to each other. As the audience’s avatar, Jay Baruchel ends up being outnumbered as he is the only genuine likable character in a cast of six. So for somebody isn’t already warm to these actors, they easily come off as very unlikable. And that can get taxing rather quickly. The writing isn’t doing enough to build enough character for the cast and the film is completely reliant on what we know of these actors and their past works.

Due to its leaning towards it’s own self-referential quality than being a apocalyptic survival film, This is the End is ultimately a fan film for the Judd Apatow audience. (Think Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for Kevin Smith’s Viewaskew Universe) If you never liked any of the comedies from the Judd Apatow team, this movie isn’t going to convert you. If you don’t like none of these actors, I’d tell you to just skip it altogether. I am part of the Apatow audience and like these actors, and even with that, it felt like watching one gigantic inside joke.

Kick-Ass 2 by Jeff Wadlow

Kick-Ass 2 by Jeff Wadlow

The costumed high-school hero Kick-Ass joins with a group of normal citizens who have been inspired to fight crime in costume. Meanwhile, the Red Mist plots an act of revenge that will affect everyone Kick-Ass knows.

What was most impressive about Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass was its impressive balance of tone. I remember laughing at Hit Girl’s first fight scene from the psychotic hilarity of seeing a little girl slaughter criminals. But the moment Mark Strong’s Frank D’Amico buried a backspin kick into Hit Girl’s face in the climatic fight, I was in utter shock having suddenly witnessed a young girl being brutally beaten up by an adult. Vaughn was able to track the audience emotionally, highlight the exact elements that he wanted the audience to feel in a given scene and lead them through it’s tonal shifts naturally. So the key question for the sequel is, will the filmmakers be able to maintain that balance in tone for Kick-Ass 2?

The Kick-Ass/David Lizewsk role is in a bit of a disadvantage because he’s physically inferior to Hit Girl, but Aaron Taylor-Johnson makes it up with a genuine goodness. You believe Dave sincerely wants to make the world a better place, even if it’s just cause he’s read too many comic books and has nothing better to do. The most interesting part about Kick-Ass is he is growing towards where the audience wants to see him, truly kicking some ass and succeeding at it. Chloe Grace-Moretz’s Hit Girl has a fish-out-of-water storyline that’s pretty interesting but it goes on a teensy bit long. We’re waiting for her to be Hit Girl and the story has to untie a lot of knots before she can do it. Christopher Mintz-Plasse is naturally funny and has good comic timing as The Motherfucker. He pulls off his ironic mustache.

Jim Carrey completely transforms himself as Colonel Stars and Stripes. There’s always been a creepiness to Jim Carrey’s manic expressions (I always thought he can play a good serial killer) and here he taps into that for proper dramatic effect. I couldn’t take my eyes off Colonel Stars and Stripes, as I was desperately trying to find “Jim Carrey-isms” underneath this performance. Suffice to say, I couldn’t find them.

In the end, Kick-Ass 2 is not as structurally sound as the first movie. I attribute this to the absence of adult characters like Mark Strong and Nicolas Cage, and the heavy duty of the three younger actors having to carrying the story. The  central story is about these three teenagers finding their identity without parental guidance. Each character has their own separate storylines for a majority of the movie, which means the film is working harder tonally to balance all three.

The absence of the parental figures also affects the humor, as it means there’s no straight man reacting to the craziness coming from the teenagers. This explains the common complaint that Kick-Ass 2 is more crass than its predecessor. It comes off more crass because there’s no characters deflecting or commenting on that crassness, so the humor comes off more obnoxious because it’s directly playing straight to the audience. John Leguizamo, for example, is a good straight man to Christopher Mintz-Plasse, but he has too small of a part to make a resounding effect. So it’s easier to be offended by the humor and makes it harder to laugh at.

Even as crass and politically incorrect as it was, it was still funny. Two noteworthy scenes were The Motherfucker naming his henchmen and another in which one of his henchmen, Mother Russia, fights the police. The pop soundtrack is used effectively to punctuate the necessary comical beats. And yes, the fights are pretty violent.

So, is it as fresh and exciting as the first film? No, it’s not even as interesting, but it’s the natural progression of this story. Second installments are usually about the superhero contemplating about quitting. From a story standpoint, it is essential to see Kick-Ass, Hit Girl and The Motherfucker make their own choices about who they want to be and develop.  So in focusing on the characters, there is actually more heart in this sequel. Admittedly, I wonder what would Matthew Vaughn would have done differently, but it’s fine as it is. I look forward to seeing where the story ends in part three.