'This Is The End' Movie: Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill Crash L.A. Screenings Of Comedies

Culture

What do movie stars do on the opening day of their new movie? If you're Seth Rogen and company, you pass out candy, t-shirts, shot glasses, and soundtracks to your audiences. 

This Is The End, the raunchy new apocalyptic comedy from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, opened nationwide yesterday to laughing crowds. Stirring up some excitement for the films, some of the film's leads traveled to theaters around Los Angeles to greet moviegoers. Seth Rogen reportedly stopped by theaters at The Grove and Century City, and then joined Jonah Hill and Jay Baruchel at the ArcLlight Hollywood, passing out candy and gifts from the movie.

Here's Rogen passing out some movie candy (the author apologizes for the quality; it was his first attempt at a Vine):

The comedic trio thanked the sold-out theater, handed out movie candy and drink certificates, threw t-shirts into the crowd, stopped for autographs and pictures, and generally had a good time. Then the movie started. Over halfway through the film, the fire alarms went off in the theater. The timing oddly matched something happening in the film, causing some to wonder if this was some sort of 4-D experience. Alas, it was not and the theater was evacuated. This intrepid writer stuck around, though, waiting to go back in to finish this review for you. [Spoilers]

This Is The End is a fun summer film, full of self-parody, raunchy scenes, slapstick antics, actors having fun. The plot centers around a bunch of actors who happen to be partying at James Franco's house when the apocalypse begins. Rogen plays himself as a pothead, Jonah Hill plays himself as an arrogant nice guy, Franco plays himself as a pretentious artist with a scary thing for Rogen, Craig Robinson plays himself as a chill coward with issues, Jay Baruchel plays himself as the only sensible person in Los Angeles, and Danny McBride plays himself as a crude and destructive purveyor of trouble. Special appearances by a coke-sniffing Michael Cera, face-slapping Rihanna, axe-wielding Emma Watson, heavenly Backstreet Boys, and more including Aziz Ansari, Paul Rudd, Channing Tatum, Mindy Kaling, Kevin Hart, and Jason Segel. Fully aware of their public images, the actors all play amazing parodies of themselves.

Compared to most end-of-the-world films, this film interestingly seemed to capture how people might react to the apocalypse in a somewhat realistic fashion. I am sure that many of us would join Craig Robinson is screaming like a little girl if a demon cat thing jumped at us. While the movie was a little bit too long and sometimes seemed to wander, it was hilarious. Armageddon tests friendships, causes egos to clash, and allows these comedic actors to shine. The chemistry between the cast and the casual nature of the film really made it easy to connect with the movie and laugh. It looked like they had genuine fun making it, and that feeling is easily shared with the audiences. From Satanic possession to Sinkhole de Mayo, This Is The End is a fun flick for the summer. Get thee to the theater and laugh at the end of the world before it's too late!

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