The pReview Re-viewing of..
Seeking a Friend for the
End of the World
(it is highly recommended to view the trailer and THEN read)
(warning: Contains mild language not suitable for children.)
by Jeff Finck
written: 3/5/2012
Release Date: June 22, 2012
In the not too distant future, the world WILL end. This is not a joke. This is a declarative statement of fact. A 70 mile wide asteroid called Matilda is going to collide with the Earth and extinguish life. This is ironic, of course, because a 70 pound little girl called Matilda collided with Earth and almost extinguished Hollywood in 1996.
The trailer begins with Steve Carell sitting in his car with his wife, jamming out to the sultry tunes of Juice 107.2. The announcer cuts in on what is most likely REM's End of the World As We Know It, and lets us know that it is the end of the world as we know it.
Steve Carell plays Dodge, a 40 something year old man whose life has seemingly been wasted on going to work, paying taxes, and getting dressed every day. He's even been so defeated by life, that the end of the world doesn't even prevent him from going to work. This actually proves to be a boon, because since almost no one else came in, he has the opportunity to get promoted!
Dodge goes home to his apartment building where he is neighbors with Keira Knightley, a 20 something year old woman living alone in Los Angeles. After some small talk, they half-jokingly plan on meeting up at an orgy later.. This probably isn’t too far off because Steve Carell’s thing seems to be randomly hooking up with attractive women throughout his career.
The trailer shows several people in varying degrees of acceptance and denial in regards to the world's impending doom. I commend them on this because that's probably one of the more accurate takes on the end of the world. Rather than literally everyone losing their shit, there would HAVE to be SOME sane people, right?
For instance, Dodge's maid is offended when he tells her she doesn't have to come back next week; Most of Dodge's co-workers show up for work dressed "business as usual"; Even his friends throw a totally normal party and try to hook him up with a friend. Things switch from denial to acceptance about the time Dodge meets his blind date, who is wearing everything she never wore before. Which I call shenanigans on, because I don't see the R. Kelly mask and forehead dildo.
Heading home again in the midst of the chaos, Dodge finds Penny crying outside his apartment window on the fire escape. She's sad that she's never going to see her family again. He invites her in on the agreement that she won't steal anything if he doesn't kill her. That deal flies right out of the window because she steals his heart and he cuts her open like a Tauntaun. I mean, they have a lovely chat and reminisce about the good old days before Dodge's wife left him. He tells Penny about an old flame and that she was THE one that got away. Then, apparently, all hell breaks loose. In a mad-cap dash for freedom, the two unlikely friends team up and go on an End of the World road trip in which they will most likely end up finding what they're looking for right under each others' noses. Kind of like if Bob Hope finally fucked Bing Crosby.
Armed with a dry sense of humor, a British pixie, and a teal Smart Car, the duo streak across the country having a blast! They're shown driving through some suburbs, passing by some surfers, and checking out some fireworks.. but I assume what we're not shown is that they're blaring NWA through the suburbs, flipping the surfers off, and instead of lighting fireworks, they're actually just setting Ke$ha on fire. This is chalked up to Dodge getting his mid-life crisis out of the way, JUST under the wire.
The last bits of the trailer show some zany antics at a restaurant called Friendsys, where everyone is your friend! They're so friendly, in fact, that Britta from Community will make out with your mouth.. and it is alluded that she will also make out with your downstairs mouth, also.
Steve Carell plays the under-the-breath cynic as well as he always does. And Keira Knightley takes a break from her string of dramatic Oscar bait to get back to her first light-hearted movie since 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. They seem to play well together, if not a bit mismatched. I'm a pretty big Steve Carell fan, but it looks like this has enough cameos if the movie drags at all. Unfortunately, this is just one of hundreds of movies, which will no doubt be coming out this year tackling the whole "end of the world" thing. However, this certainly appears to be the most entertaining one! Can't wait!