I’ve always been afraid of the end of the world. The amount of media nowadays that portrays it in a negative light is incredible, and has done nothing to change my pessimistic views on the matter. But the recently released Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World dares to challenge me and everyone else by turning the apocalypse into probably one of the best love stories of the year!
When it’s announced that a stonking big meteor is heading to Earth in three weeks and will essentially wipe out all life on the planet, miserable Dodge Petersen (Steve Carell, U.S. version of The Office) chooses his last days to have a midlife crisis, after his wife leaves him. He finally starts talking to a British girl who resides in his apartment block; the stoner carefree romantic Penny (Keira Knightly, Atonement); and together they make a deal to help get each other what they want out of life before their untimely end – Dodge to be reunited with his first love and Penny a flight back home to the UK.
The high concept of Seeking A Friend is really intriguing – just think, how would you spend your last days on this planet? There are some cool ideas in this film; especially the Friendsy’s restaurant (“where everyone is your friend!”), where they were going to shut up shop but thought it would be better to stay open and go nuts in the kitchen, making hamburgers with doughnuts for buns and the like, before the nightly orgy occurs. It’s interesting to see people’s reactions and the wide range on the scale. While some bottle it, can’t go on any longer, and commit suicide, some carry on as usual and arrange normal, straight dinner parties.
These of course quickly devolve into the level of pegging children to drink full glasses of vodka straight, trying out heroin for the first time, and seeing single loser guys accomplishing the dream of a lifetime and sleeping with stupid amounts of beautiful women daily. That’s the crazy side of the film but the little moments like the couples waiting in a queue to have a relationship blessed, or marriage in a pagan ritual on the beach, stood out just the same, and actually made the end of the world seem weirdly (very weirdly)… nice.
Carell has carved out a bit of a niche in these films; playing these miserable and slightly dark characters; it’s something that came to the forefront of his memorable turn in Little Miss Sunshine and best seen in Crazy, Stupid, Love. You could say it’s becoming his stereotype, but when he does this schtick so well, it’s hard not to sit back and enjoy. Though the real surprise here is how ridiculously good Knightly is as a comedy actress; looking back at her filmography, she’s never really done a wacky role like this at all; considered a straight actress, it’s a pleasure to see someone out of their comfort zone and showing off their talents in other areas. The two together have such brilliant comic timing it keeps the film flowing constantly, and you get behind their relationship so much because, in their situation, it’s so believable, and the fact that the two work together, when you consider how different they are (insurance salesman meets stoner romantic), speaks volumes of the acting ability of both leads.
It’s a bit odd to have a film with only two real main characters, sure Carell and Knightly together are ace, and it is their story, but there’s something strange about there not really being a third or forth important character to talk about. That said, we have some cracking cameos here with Connie Britton (American Horror Story) as a bored housewife who wants to join in the chaos of the end of the world, William Petersen (C.S.I.) as a freshly diagnosed cancer victim, and we get to find out what happens to an adult Seth Cohen from The O.C. (Adam Brody); turns out that even passed puberty he can still be a whiny bitch.
For a low budget movie, the little tricks used to make the scope of the movie seem bigger than it is are fantastically effective; things like the sound of the riot outside Dodge and Penny’s apartment block definitely make it sound louder and more violent than it is, and using clever angles to only show the building side of a street, and half of a supposed mob coming down the road, is so easy to do, yet you can’t help but think “wow! It’s a massive city wide riot going on!” And Whilst most of Seeking A Friend takes place out of the city, you still get the feel that it’s a truly worldwide event.
Credit must go to debut director Lorene Scafaria for writing and creating the suitably clunky but workable love story in a ridiculous setting, and making it work. She wrote the similarly odd love story Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist and the weird couple magic between Carell and Knightly does makes her personal story work, and though there have been complaints of a “jarring tonal shift” they help this film along because of the sheer peculiarity of it all; jerking you back into thinking that it’s a reasonably serious film with the end of the world theme it has.
Whilst not as dark as some people think it is, Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World is undoubtedly odd. However, it’s convinced me whatever impending doom we have yet to occur to us may actually be fun if we have some decent prior warning. A fantastic kooky love story that is made believable by a strong lead duo. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but for the rest, Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World is absolutely amazing.
Terry Lewis – @thatterrylewis.
