by Thomas Willett
2:00pm PST, July 9, 2012
While there have always been movies dealing with apocalyptic situations, it seems that they have become more common. Most of them are created to combat the Mayan calendar and present a vision of the world coming to an end at the end of this year. Despite all of this, there are rarely films that give a sense of hope. Most of them deal with giant explosions and one note protagonists. With Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, director and writer Lorene Scafaria hopes to change that. Does she succeed at turning the apocalypse into a humorous reflection of the self?
The movie’s entire tone can be picked up from the opening scene. A radio announcer (Brad Morris) announces that an asteroid is heading for Earth. He immediately follows this comment by playing the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” The irony is what eventually leads to a problematic shift in tone in the final act. The movie begins promising with a bleak vision of the world. There are employees jumping off buildings, kids drinking alcohol, and consistent riots. The chaos doesn’t overpower the movie, but presents an interesting take on humans’ natural instincts.
The lead characters are humdrum Dodge (Steve Carell) and his optimistic vinyl record collecting neighbor Penny (Keira Knightley). Together they take a journey through the Eastern United States to say goodbye to their loved ones. While Dodge seems reserved, it is Penny’s outgoing nature that makes the rest of the movie interesting. She brings a sense of fun that manages to toe the line between the dark humor and the familiar light romantic plot that develops towards the end. Their chemistry starts off strong, but as they become romantically inclined, falls into pointless scenes of introspection.
As Scafaria proved in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, she is capable of writing great small character moments. Since this is a road comedy, there are plenty of scenes that may seem tangential, but contribute nicely to the atmosphere. Many of these characters appear to be one note, but have a limited screen time that is beneficial to the comedy. Characters like Roache (Patton Oswalt) and Chipper Host (T.J. Miller) are delightfully vapid of any sense besides having fun. There are also a few downers like Jeremy (Rob Huebel) and Trucker (Marshall Manseh) who bring on the darker moments. These extreme parallels are moments where Scafaria’s writing gets to shine and provide unpredictable shifts that don’t feel forced.
It is when the lead characters become acquainted that things go awry. The first half can serve as a self-reflection on what it means to be human. Even with a dramatic score that disappears halfway through the movie, there is a sense of dread and humanity. The ending doesn’t feel like a cheat, but by taking out the community aspect to focus more intimately on the romance, it takes away all of the stakes that had been building and turn it into a somewhat predictable film. It is not enough to ruin things, but it does make the third act feel slow and at times meandering.
Carell is not a terrible actor, though he continues to feel type-cast here. His melancholy nature has a restraint that implies internal conflict. However, he is the weaker element of the movie, as he seems bored at times with everything that is going on. This could be attributed to what is expected of his character. Maybe this role needed a more charismatic actor that seemed like a plausible romantic lead. It is a tolerable performance with a few interesting character reveals, but it is mostly Knightley who brings some sense of life to this tale.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a film with simple ambition that could have used a little more complexity. The cast is great and there are many memorable moments, but it is hard to watch this without feeling that a few edits needed to be made. It manages to create an interesting premise that mixes bleak and sweet moments into a strong look at the human condition, only to drop it all for a happy ending. The one benefit is that Scafaria is an expert character writer and that ties everything else together nicely. Even without the interesting premise, this film works as a road comedy, not so much as a romantic one.
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