Movie Madness - Seeking a Friend for the End of the World | Arts & Culture

Just because it's Christmas doesn't mean I'm going to sugar coat everything. This review contains spoilers:

Just in time for the holidays oh and our impending doom on Friday, comes ‘Seeking a Friend for the End of the World’.

As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.

The movie stars funny man Kiera Knightley, Steve Carell and is directed by Lorene Scafaria.

The movie starts out like a weird sequel to the 40-year-old Virgin in that Carell plays a sort of unconfident, nerdy, very introverted character named Dodge. He can’t even stand up to his own maid! Now how would you react if the world was ending? You’d probably go see the world, a loved one, or regret the fact that your only valuable possession is a framed autograph picture of Lou Diamond Phillips above your fireplace. Well, Carell’s character keeps showing up to his job as an insurance salesmen which is worse than knowing your imminent demise.

Things finally start to click for Dodge when he meets a free spirited woman named Penny (Knightley)…oh and also a riot that breaks out in front of their apartment complex…yea it was probably that. So they set off on an adventure to find Dodge’s long lost love that he got a letter from just a few weeks ago. There they find themselves in a pickle with the cops, a truck driver with a death wish, and if the heaven’s gate cult opened up a chain restaurant. From there on out it’s nothing but happy/sad moments and Carell’s straight man put in awkward situations.  

I watched this with some friends and 1/3 of them did not like it. There were 3 people in total so I’M LOOKING AT YOU, ETHAN! I can see where he is coming from. Some may not like this film because it sometimes doesn’t balance happy and sad really well. At least it was marketed well. I fully went into this knowing that since it was the end of the world that there were going to be some jarring moments mixed in with hilarity because don’t you want your last moments be seeing a guy slip on a banana peel before an asteroid comes and obliterates all life on earth :D!

The movie’s subject matter was handled as best as it could be for a dramedy. Carell and Knightley’s characters play off well even though it’s the typical “guy in his shell is broken free by hippie chick who doesn’t care what others think”. I liked the ending as well. It’s not the typical sappy ending we all want or have but then again that doesn’t happen in real life. The side characters are also great. You have a lot of comedians filling in big supporting roles and bit roles such as Rob Corddry, T.J. Miller, and Amy Schumer.

Overall this movie isn’t for everyone but it’s about as much fun of an adventure you can have in a perilous situation. I give this 3 people I’d want on my dream team in the apocalypse.