I watched This is The End tonight, which was fairly entertaining, and striking for several reasons.
There is a large group of people that really despises the whole Seth Rogan, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, etc. crowd, and then there is a large group of people that really love their movies. In short that whole troupe is polarizing, with each side having fairly reasonable arguments that support their given positions.
The detractors often compare these people with the classic comedians, such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and so on maybe up to the comedians of the 80s or 90s and argue that their movies are shit compared to the works of genius that were created by previous artists. In a sense this is true. Our best comedies today are postmodern junkyards, landscapes of recycled jokes, myths, archetypes, and what have you. This is the End is no different: it is a movie that is in the same decadent strain as all of the other similar attempts before it: 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Pineapple Express, etc.
But then the supporters chime in and say they just like this stuff. It is funny and relevant. Now considering the old cliche that we have to work with what we have, I have to agree with the supporters. These guys are painfully honest. They are widely despised because they don't attempt to construct any sort of comic ideal and they don't try to push any sort of moral position; they simply portray the nitty gritty as it is in their comedy. It feels real when you watch it because they simply act out what is in front of them, and in turn what is in front of many of us.
The only problem with their comedy is their white male, upper class dramas. That in the end is what produces so many detractors. Feminists especially hate these guys, and I really don't blame them. But then if you consider the increasing isolation of disparate demographics, you just try to go along with the stories they tell and see things from their perspective. There is an extra sting from the fact that the white male upper class perspective is highly over-represented in Hollywood, but then other perspectives do get through, thanks especially to the Indie and Foreign sectors, but anyways.
In all honesty these guys don't have much to work with. The old myths are all but dead. If you attempt to reboot one of the old comedic templates today it comes across as insincere because it is. Times have changed and as genius as the old comedic greats are, their lessons are no longer relevant. They may be relevant in a future time when the eternal cycle returns, but today we are in a descent, and that said I'm perfectly happy with comedy that reflects that.
This is the End is the prototypical fin de siecle comedy. It is a comedy of the follies of egotism, materialism, hedonism, and the dog eat dog jungle of a civilization in decline. Everyone is against everyone, and everyone is constantly at each others' throats. It portrays these themes as experienced by the upper class, and this is probably appropriate, as these effects are most likely more pronounced amongst the upper classes, seeing as how they have more desire-objects to fight over and more prestige and respect to lose.
The first quarter of the movie consists of a party that just gets worse and worse. The party scene itself was especially interesting as it displaya all sorts of those strange animal antagonisms that you see when damaged people get intoxicated and get together. The social dynamics are believable, if exaggerated.
And then there is the apocalypse and everyone is eventually forced to give up their prime desires and sacrifice for each other (or be destroyed) due to the collapse of decadent living into bare survival, which necessitates a return to animal instinct.. The biblical imagery is a little hackneyed but it all makes sense. Without revealing too much, the movie is short-circuited at the ending. Instead of some revolutionary change, we get the positing of some thoroughly exaggerated and reconciled version of the initial state of affairs: everyone gets their hedonism and their egotism and their desire-objects in their heavenly paradise after sacrificing themselves in the real world, and so the overall story arc is ultimately highly conservative and cyclical. But then that is how organized religion works anyways so what are you going to do?
It is this repeated mistake that keeps these guys from being great. Their comedy is good, but not great, because they refuse to transcend themselves. Their idea of revolution is a return to some mythical ideal extracted from the past.
Ignoring the ending, the process getting there is mostly entertaining.
PS - This post was fueled by Johnny Walker so my apologies if it is meandering or confused.
PSS - Johnny Walker is pretty good. Especially Black Label. It has a smoky taste.
