Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

[tilly]

Sounds like I should have seen this one instead!

[Beate]

This starts off as a comedy, despite the topic of the world going to end in three weeks. There are some absurd things people say and do when faced with their inevitable demise, but this film wasn't going to make a laugh a minute of it. Instead it develops into a kind of romantic drama with a very restrained and lonely Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley giving a beautiful turn as his young neighbour who wants nothing more than see her family in England one last time, for want of having someone closer to spend Armageddon with. So they set off on a bit of a road trip where they encounter all kinds of people and how they react to the inevitable. There is some beautiful music being played, and not once is there any crude humour. Even the annoying pair next to me had to stop giggling halfway through. The humour was more subtle, like when the newsreader announces this is the last broadcast from him as the asteroid will strike in 16 hours - "but make sure you set your clock forward to Daylight Saving Time".

So what would you do with three weeks left for mankind? Who would you want to spend it with? I wouldn't say no to spending it with Steve Carrell either.

[yogi]

This starts off as a comedy, despite the topic of the world going to end in three weeks. There are some absurd things people say and do when faced with their inevitable demise, but this film wasn't going to make a laugh a minute of it. Instead it develops into a kind of romantic drama with a very restrained and lonely Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley giving a beautiful turn as his young neighbour who wants nothing more than see her family in England one last time, for want of having someone closer to spend Armageddon with. So they set off on a bit of a road trip where they encounter all kinds of people and how they react to the inevitable. There is some beautiful music being played, and not once is there any crude humour. Even the annoying pair next to me had to stop giggling halfway through. The humour was more subtle, like when the newsreader announces this is the last broadcast from him as the asteroid will strike in 16 hours - "but make sure you set your clock forward to Daylight Saving Time".

So what would you do with three weeks left for mankind? Who would you want to spend it with? I wouldn't say no to spending it with Steve Carrell either.

Pretty much spot on, apart from the spending last 3 weeks with Steve Carrell - I'd choose Keira or failing that just have a beer and shoot the breeze with Martin Sheen.

It does start off very funny, the absurdity of the situation causing people to either start frantically ticking things off their bucket lists or oddly acting like all is fine, the news reports especially have some great lines.

Then the relationship between the leads develops and is really well played, but there's still some laughs along the way on their road trip as the weird and wonderful characters/situations keep coming.

I guess like Take Shelter it's not really about the end of the world, but uses this to explore regret, lost opportunity and destiny and does it in a charming and amusing way. Recommended.

[saleha78]

Really enjoyed watching this film. Thought provoking. A bit slow at times though.

8/10

[Beate]

That's why I will never become a film critic but these guys are:

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/seeking ... rld-review

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/movie ... vie-Review

http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/mov ... oontz.html

[TheDude]

I like Steve Carell but I didn't like this very much. Found Keira a bit too annoying with all that crying. The abandoned scruffy dog "Sorry" was great though. So dignified and poignant... It's a shame Martin Sheen only had one scene. I might have enjoyed it more if they'd followed Patton Oswalt's character and called it Seeking a Shag before the End of the World...

[Jayman]

This (extremely short) review just about sums it up, from a male perspective anyway:

Replete with some funny cameos by the likes of Rob Corddry and Patton Oswalt, it nonetheless ends up casting its eye over the least interesting characters onscreen.

Source: http://www.nerdist.com/2012/06/lyts-l-a ... disasters/

[McG]

I was at Glasgow Cineworld which was only about 30% full.
As with all the previous reviews, this film is a real mixture of people's reactions to the news of the end of the world. There are not many films which affect me to tears but this did. The acting was superb on the part of Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley was good.

The exploration of what you would want to do is definitely thought provoking.
Beate has already asked the questions . . . what about having a thread for this, Beate?

Marks 9/10

[Ms Thrifty]

Glad to have had the chance to see this (and no agonising clash for me) but not my thing - 6.5 perhaps; might stretch to a 7 once I've had more time to reflect.

At about 95 minutes it was shorter than the 110 given on IMDB - no bad thing in my opinion - but I found it completely pointless. Keira Knightley was fairly irritating (that weird accent?) and, pleasant as Steve Carrell is, a decent actor doesn't validate an otherwise mediocre film for me. Also, I even feel that Steve Carrell is becoming a little over-familiar, especially in this type of role.

There was a point at which I thought the film was going to end, and at which I think it would have done well to do so - but it didn't - there was just more of the same indecisive meandering mush.

[The Sparrow]

Ms thrifty [spoiler]how could the film end before the world came to an end?[/spoiler]

This film wasn't what I expected. None of the mad acting that Steve Carrell can do. Far more subtle than that. I loved his cleaner too.

I too was left in tears at the end.

But two things - where was Sorry as they lay on the bed?
And [spoiler]when she made his dad turn the plane back (and that tiny plane would never have made England in time) wouldn't it have been nice if his dad had come with her? Otherwise it meant he died alone.[/spoiler]
I wish Martin Sheen had appeared in it longer.

It certainly made me think.