The Worlds' End - Review

The Worlds’ End - Review

Actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunite again for a third film following the successes of "Shaun of the Dead" (2004), "Hot Fuzz" (2007) and “Paul” (2011). In "The World's End," 20 years after attempting and falling short of an epic one night visit to 12 consecutive pubs for at least one pint of beer, five childhood friends reunite as adults when one of them Gary King (Simon Pegg) becomes obsessed on trying the drinking marathon once again.

We discover early on in the film that Gary is a 40-year-old unaccomplished man trapped in the outdated adolescent pranks of his youth, with way too many cigarettes, and his rather uncouth behavior towards women. Still with some measure of charm he manages to convince his more established professional pals to reluctantly return to their hometown and once again attempt to reach the final fabled 12^th pub – The World's End. What they don’t know is that the citizens of their small home town are not the same people they use to be resulting in the five friends (with one girl in tow) being entangled in an unplanned epic life struggle not only for their future but for all of humankind as well. Ultimately, their reaching The World's End pub for a simple beer is the least of their worries.

Rotten Tomatoes pool of critic gave this film an incredibly high score of 91% out of 100. Well, consider my review of this film in the 9% who didn’t think much of it at all. Yes, it has a certain charm with its rather typical dry but uniquely clever British humor and a couple of genuine humorous and smart scenes. But overall, I found this film virtually an incoherent mishmash (meaning a collection or mixture of unrelated things; a hodgepodge) of ridiculous make it up as you go along scenes with a bungling film Direction to match. If you want a sense of this films 90 minute running time affect on me, just imagine watching a 12 year old after a non-stop 24 hour sugar high trying to use a video camera to archive a family reunion. Better yet, imagine some lanky long hair kid who’s high on a skateboard trying to juggle 10 priceless Faberge eggs. Or finally imagine a professional football player in the Super Bowl with 12 inch women’s high heels on trying to run to catch the winning pass in the Super Bowl. Though you already know the outcome is not going to be very good you just can’t help but keep watching in the hopes that it might not end so bad. WRONG.

I was genuinely disappointed in this film as Pegg and Frost in their previous three other films were pretty funny. If you still want to watch this, think of it as a slow Sunday afternoon stuck in the house with no money until pay day and it’s free on basic cable.

The only redeemable thing I remember about this film is British Actress Rosamund Pike is very, very pretty, but I digress.  

2 – 1/2 Stars