This Is the End

Danny McBride and James Franco argue about the magazine

Jay and Seth reuniting, eating at Carl’s Jr., smoking, gaming, and hearing the Backstreet Boys is proposed. The celebrity party is proposed for Franco's self-mockery, Mindy Kaling and Michael Cera, Jonah and Jay, Jason Segel and Kevin Hart, Craig Robinson's song, and Cera in the bathroom. The guests dying in rapid succession after the apocalypse begins is proposed. Jonah playing with the gun and the Milky Way argument are proposed. Danny McBride's breakfast entrance is proposed as the point when the film rises to another level. The homemade Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red is proposed. The group's conversation about Emma Watson and her armed departure is proposed, with the scene's sexual-threat humor acknowledged as potentially harder to stage later. Danny McBride and James Franco's escalating argument over the pornographic magazine is the leading choice. McBride's water outburst and expulsion are proposed as a close alternate. Possessed Jonah's exorcism is selected as another leading scene. Danny McBride returning with Channing Tatum as his gimp is proposed. The Backstreet Boys ending in heaven is proposed as an audacious final sequence.

Danny McBride is the funniest person of his generation

Danny McBride is declared the funniest performer of the prior fifteen years and the successor to Will Ferrell. His recurring overconfident persona is compared with Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Will Ferrell. His entrances, breakfast, ration argument, insults, and laughter at Michael Cera’s death are cited as examples. The limited-film-role, heat-check shape of his career is praised rather than treated as a weakness. Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red is identified as an apocalypse project within the film and as the prospective real sequel plot.

Danny McBride, personal dynamics, specificity, and fan service

Danny McBride is the leading answer because he repeatedly broke the other actors during filming. The David Spade theory of nonthreatening celebrity desirability is said to be validated by Mindy Kaling’s Michael Cera speech. The Jay–Seth friendship tension and their relationship with Seth’s Los Angeles friends feel rooted in real dynamics. Jonah Hill and James Franco insulting one another is praised for blurring performance and real friction. The timely Lindsay Lohan joke and Jonah identifying himself to God as being from Moneyball are praised. The enormous demon anatomy, recurring jokes about Seth, and period pop-culture references are praised for specificity. The detailed apocalypse inventory and its conversion into 127 Hours are praised. Jay Baruchel’s later account of disliking Jonah during filming is used to validate the tension onscreen. Dicks up and Scarface style are praised as compact group-decision jokes. Superbad and Pineapple Express fan service is praised for supplying reunion energy without conventional sequels. Combining a one-night party comedy with Night of the Living Dead is praised as a potent premise. Jonah's dog Aja and the video-confessional device are praised.

Cypress Hill for Danny McBride’s entrance

Gangnam Style is proposed as a vivid 2013 period choice. Step Into a World and Paper Planes are proposed. Cypress Hill accompanying Danny McBride's entrance wins.

Danny McBride's breakfast

Danny McBride's elaborate breakfast wins. Carl’s Jr., the rationed water, and the Milky Way are alternates.

Heaven

Heaven with the Backstreet Boys wins as a pleasant, upgraded Las Vegas.

Danny McBride's entrance

Danny McBride's breakfast entrance wins for its slow reveal and hand movement. Jay and Seth fleeing the convenience store amid crashes is an alternate.

Missing post-credit scene in hell

The abandoned post-credit scene with Franco, McBride, Jonah, and Hitler smoking in hell is identified as the missing piece. The panel argues the film should return to hell after the heaven ending and include more condemned figures.

Franco context, party length, 3D television, and weed culture

The party is considered five or six minutes too short, while Craig Robinson’s departure could be shortened. James Franco’s centrality and onscreen friendship with Seth Rogen are uncomfortable in light of their later estrangement and Franco’s disappearance from major films. Emma Watson’s discomfort with improvised material is discussed with Seth Rogen’s later acceptance that communication failed. 3D televisions are identified as a dated technological fad. The movie’s heavy marijuana culture is judged less funny after legalization and saturation. The proposed Hitler scene remains disputed rather than a unanimous missed opportunity.

Craig Robinson leaves the house

Craig Robinson leaving the house, or the nearby Jay-and-Craig departure stretch, is selected.

Any of Danny McBride’s lines

The panel declines to isolate one line and recommends choosing among Danny McBride’s many quotes.

Best Apatow-adjacent movie; Danny McBride is funniest

This Is the End is argued to be the best Apatow-adjacent film, ahead of Knocked Up and Superbad. The reason given is that friendship saves the characters without forcing them into nuclear-family maturity. The film’s willingness to kill major comic actors supports its refusal of a reassuring growth arc. Danny McBride being the funniest performer of the generation is offered as a separate hottest take. His control over his own television projects is praised as the reason he avoided weaker studio vehicles.

Mila Kunis or Kristen Stewart for Emma Watson; several lost cameos

Mila Kunis was reportedly the original Emma Watson-role choice and is favored by one participant for her comic history with the cast. Others defend Emma Watson because Hermione’s presence and her perceived innocence make the scene stranger and funnier. Kristen Stewart is proposed as a Twilight-based alternate. Cameron Diaz was reportedly lost when production moved from Los Angeles to New Orleans. Daniel Radcliffe reportedly declined a role. An alternate ending with Morgan Freeman pretending to be God is described and rejected in favor of the Backstreet Boys ending.

No winner

No performance is judged improperly overacted; Michael Cera’s heightened performance is considered appropriate.

Brian Huskey

Dave Krumholtz is considered but judged too recognizable. Brian Huskey, whose character appears at the door and is immediately killed, wins.

Michael Cera

Michael Cera wins decisively for his brief, manic celebrity caricature. His willingness to play a grotesque version of himself is the basis for the choice. The category’s possible future renaming is discussed but Dion Waiters is retained.

Danny McBride

A new award for the best performance as oneself is explicitly created and named for Danny McBride’s work in this film.

Jason Segel for James Franco; a modern cohort remake

Mila Kunis is again proposed for Emma Watson’s role. A present-day remake is considered, but no comparably famous comic cohort is found; Tim Robinson is discussed as talented but insufficiently famous for the same premise. Jason Segel is favored as a digital replacement for James Franco because of his ties to the group and likable quality. Ryan Reynolds is an alternate Franco replacement.

Rihanna slap, reused duffel, ratings, deleted material, music, and geography

Michael Cera reportedly asked Rihanna to slap him for real after he slapped her, leading to repeated hard takes. Emma Watson’s water duffel is identified as the same prop used in Pineapple Express. The filmmakers expected an NC-17 and were surprised that extreme material survived with an R rating. Test audiences rejected a cannibal sequence in which McBride drinks from Franco’s severed foot. A marijuana scene with Hitler was nearly filmed and then rejected. Step Into a World at Franco’s house samples Rapture. The opening directions name several canyon routes, prompting questions about the fictional house location.

Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, and movie pitches

Seth Rogen is placed at or near apex between this film and Neighbors. Jonah Hill is assigned The Wolf of Wall Street or Moneyball rather than this film. James Franco is placed near apex, with 127 Hours as an alternate. Danny McBride is accepted at apex based on Eastbound & Down and this film. Craig Robinson is placed near apex through Hot Tub Time Machine, The Office, and this film. Michael Cera is assigned Superbad and Emma Watson is assigned Harry Potter. The Backstreet Boys and comedies overall are rejected as apex cases. The film is selected as apex mountain for audacious movie pitches. The use of Melrose is praised but its convenience is questioned. Aja, textbook twatage, and Channing Tate-yum are proposed for best resource/name-style phrases.

Impossible Los Angeles geography and celebrity behavior

Franco’s supposed hill house cannot plausibly sit three blocks from Melrose and appears to combine several neighborhoods. Six men being frightened away by Emma Watson with an axe is questioned, then defended because the characters are helpless actors. Seth Rogen personally meeting Jay at the airport is considered implausible at his 2013 fame level. Sending a driver is proposed as the plausible alternative. Michael Cera and Mindy Kaling are considered an implausible sexual pairing, though that mismatch is defended as the joke. Waiting at the airport gate after 9/11 is identified as a separate implausibility.

Prestige television version

A prestige television version is considered attractive because the premise could support much more party and survival material. The movie is described as a loose spiritual sequel to Pineapple Express.

Jon Bernthal as himself

Any of the recurring replacement characters could work, but Danny McBride is judged to overpower a Wayne Jenkins insertion. Jon Bernthal arriving as himself with his dog is the favored new wrinkle.

Danny McBride

Danny McBride wins the film’s one Oscar without dispute.

Bodily functions, Aja, Michael Cera, and Jay Baruchel

The panel settles on two bowel movements per day rather than six. Aja the spaniel is initially presumed dead, then identified as the dog Seth holds in heaven. A crude question about Michael Cera’s body is answered affirmatively as part of the film’s persona joke. Whether Jay Baruchel is genuinely difficult is debated using his dislike of Los Angeles and real resentment of Seth’s newer friends. Jay is defended as better company in Canada and as skillfully playing his own type. His pleasure at Mindy Kaling’s compliment is cited as a revealing moment within the caricature.

Pineapple Express or Project X

Pineapple Express is selected by one participant and Project X by another. The discussion expands into why the group avoided sequels and which comedy sequels have worked.

The apocalypse continues

The category is immediately resolved by the fact that the apocalypse has occurred.

Pornographic magazine or penis sculpture

The crusted pornographic magazine is a leading choice because it anchors a major comic scene. The giant penis sculpture is another leading choice, with a joke about repairing its severed portion. Michael Cera’s yellow windbreaker, the gun, Franco’s paintings, Channing Tatum’s collar, and the Gandalf pipe are alternatives.

Be nice to your friends and be a good person

Be nice to your friends and be a good person are selected as the central lessons. Seth refusing to honor the burnt-match draw is offered as an honest survival response.

Danny McBride

Danny McBride wins unanimously because every appearance produces a major laugh. His comic appeal is described as reaching viewers with different relationships to the film. His life near longtime collaborators in South Carolina is praised. Eastbound & Down examples illustrate the depth of the panel’s attachment to his work. His selective career and continued work with longtime collaborators are praised.