This Is the End / YMMV

Accidental Aesop: All celebrities are terrible people, but some can be redeemed.
Alternative Character Interpretation
- Was Danny McBride truly an evil Jerkass at heart, or was he Driven to Madness by the stress of the situation and by the others' treatment of him?
- Jonah Hill really did like Jay, but suppressed his anger at him for loathing him and other friends of Seth's. Jay's punch is what broke the lingering thread and made him cross the Moral Event Horizon of praying for death upon him.
  - Jonah's hatred of Jay can be seen from the beginning (see Moral Event Horizon below). It's also possible he threw the kitchen knife at his leg on purpose, but probably meant to aim higher.
  - Jonah may be aware he's possessed, but blames Jay for it.
  - He may also have had hidden sexual urges towards Seth. That could explain his dislike towards Jay and his intent in tit-fucking Seth when he was possessed.
- When the disaster first strikes Jonah pushes Jay into the pit that several others have already fallen into to their deaths. Did Jonah intentionally do this, as another indication of his hatred for Jay and using the chance of everything going to hell to try and kill him and Make It Look Like an Accident, or at the time was he simply trying to escape in a blind panic and didn't realize he was pushing Jay at the time, let alone into something that came close to killing him?
- None of the people who actually get successfully raptured know or expect that's what's about to happen. Craig, Jay, and Seth are all taken completely by surprise when they're spirited out of disaster by God's mercy. That's because they weren't doing the right thing to save themselves, but because it was the right thing to do. This is also why James Franco's redemption is called off by God; his attitude proved that he was only doing the right thing with himself in mind and was still the same selfish person inside.
Awesome Music
- Backstreet's back, alright! Both times, especially the last one.
- Good luck listening to Whitney Houston the same way ever again.
- Black Sabbath's "End of the Beginning", that plays during the credits.
- The score composed by Henry Jackman certainly deserves a mention.
Crosses the Line Twice:
- Michael Cera blows a huge handful of light-colored powder in Christopher Mintz-Plasse's face (much to his dismay) which Jonah Hill at first jokes is heroin, but then reassures is "just cocaine." Mintz-Plasse doesn't appear pleased with either option.
- The climax of the film with Satan. Getting his giant penis severed off by a beam of light? Kinda funny, mostly a male pain moment, and it's a little goofy. Satan then picking up his own severed, floppy penis in one hand and groaning towards heaven in a "Dude, what the FUCK" kind of way? HILARIOUS!
- James Franco's death. The lead up is that he attempts to distract Danny and his band of cannibals so Seth and Jay can escape and it works. Only for God to reject Franco due to mocking Danny and flipping him off, resulting in him complaining and asking why it didn't work. That's the funny part. The disturbing part is when Danny holds Franco down and starts biting into his face, ripping out his eye, without any remorse before the rest of the cannibals join in.
- The guy's head being chopped off is pretty gruesome, but the men kicking it around like a soccer ball loops it to funny.
- Jonah Hill getting raped by the demon is nothing short of horrific (albeit rather karmic, given he prayed for the death of Jay Baruchel beforehand). The way Jonah skirts around the camera the next morning, however, is absolutely hysterical.
  Jonah: So something, um... not that chill happened last night.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Emma Watson, mainly because she terrifies all the guys into giving her their food, threatening them all with an ax.
  "Hermione just stole all of our shit."
- Michael Cera, despite dying relatively early, is considered one of the funniest characters in the film due Cera's sheer commitment to portraying himself as a coked up lunatic.
Esoteric Happy Ending: Yes, three of the main cast get to go party in heaven. This doesn't change the fact that millions of other people are brutally killed or placed in mortal danger, many of whom are guilty of nothing more than being a bit rude and self-centered.
Fanfic Fuel: What happened to the rest of the celebrities who survived? Emma Watson's fate in particular.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- After James Franco got hit with sexual misconduct allegations right after winning an award at the 2018 Golden Globes, the scene where he gets attacked by Emma Watson following a casual remark about the possibility of her getting raped can become this, as can revealing that he slept with Lindsay Lohan by pretending to be Jake Gyllenhaal. It also makes the scene of Franco sabotaging his own chance for ascension and dying into a metaphor for his career.
- It's oddly poetic that a movie titled ''This is The End" ended up being the very last movie rented through a company-owned Blockbuster location before it shut its doors for good.^note
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Mixed with Heartwarming in Hindsight, but in the film Rapture-Palooza, that came out the same year, Craig Robinson plays The Antichrist. Here, he is a victim of the Rapture, but redeems himself and goes to Heaven in the end.
- In 2014, when a list Lindsay Lohan wrote down of all the men she slept with was made public, James Franco was on it... though weirdly enough, not Jake Gyllenhaal.
Ho Yay: They all get ship teased with each other at one point or another.
- James Franco has a very odd preoccupation with Seth Rogen.
  Danny McBride: James Franco didn't suck any dick last night? Now I know y'all are tripping.
- Jonah Hill is incredibly affectionate with Jay Baruchel. Later revealed to just be a ploy to get closer to Seth.
- Jay and Seth themselves.
- Jay and Craig.
- James and Danny.
Love to Hate: Danny McBride is a complete asshole who turns into a cannibalistic and homicidal rapist. And yet, he's got lots of funny moments and great lines, plus a good performance, which makes him so much fun to watch on-screen.
Memetic Mutation:
- "Hermione just stole all of our shit."
- "So... something not that chill happened last night."
- "I call him Channing Tate-Yum!"
- James' (botched) rapture scene.
Moral Event Horizon:
- If Danny doesn't cross it when he tries to shoot the guys in the house, then he does when he becomes leader of a group of cannibals who also enslave people and eats James Franco alive.
- Jonah after wishing death upon Jay. The act of praying to God for the death of his friend is basically treated as an official MEH by the rules of the movie's universe, warranting his demon rape and possession along with his eventual death.
Nausea Fuel:
- The gang kicking around a bloody severed head like a soccer ball. Blood even pours out when Jonah Hill picks it up.
- Danny McBride chewing up James Franco to the latter's demise.
- Seth and James attempting to spit feed the Milky Way to Jonah, though they're stopped at the last minute.
One-Scene Wonder: Channing Tatum.
Signature Scene:
- Emma Watson stealing everybody's drinks.
- Channing Tatum as a gay gimp slave.
Special Effect Failure: Probably intentional, given the film's whole B-movie-inspired feel, but the girl's head that gets stomped on by Paul Rudd almost instantly turns into a dummy head. All of the other effects in the film, on the other hand...
Spiritual Adaptation: Swap out the demons for zombies, and you have the best adaptation of the Long Island chapter of World War Z, another satirical story about rich, pampered, jerkass Hollywood celebrities (failing to) survive the apocalypse.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: While Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Michael Cera have a scene that references the film they made together, the former two don't share one with Jay Baruchel that would've referenced the film they were apart of.^note There was an especially missed joke about how Hill was the only one of the three who didn't return for the TV show.

YMMV / This Is the End

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