BY CHRISTOPHER STAMM
GUEST MOVIE REVIEWER
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Available on most streaming apps)
Rated R – for language and adult themes
Hi everyone! Well, once again that little thing called adulthood got in the way of me seeing a new release for you fine folks, so we are going to dip back into the way-back vault for one you may have missed.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World came out back in 2012, but it never really got the recognition it deserves, due to the fact that it’s a romantic dramedy revolving around the end of the world.
You see, the premise is that there is a meteor on the way to earth, and everyone is going to die when it hits. It stars Steve Carrell as Dodge, a middle class office drone in a loveless marriage whose wife literally jumps from their car and runs away when the radio announces that the last chance to stop the meteor has failed, and Kiera Knightly as Penny, his flaky neighbor who has missed the last flight to England to see her family.
The unlikely duo team up to go find Dodge’s first and true love and find Penny a way home to England.
Along the way, they end up with a dog named Sorry, encounter a man that hired an assassin to kill him, survivalists, and in one straight-up funny sequence, come across a chain restaurant in the middle of nowhere whose staff has decided to embrace the end and party till the meteor hits, as well as a mass wedding on the beach. And along the way, they also come to understand that love can be found anywhere, at any time, with anyone; you just have to be open to it and embrace it when it comes; and the realization that sometimes the timing is not the greatest.
You would think that this one would be played straight to drama fans or straight to comedy, but instead, it’s more of a study on how people would be when faced with a scheduled end to their lives. And honestly, in this film, most people are pretty much ok with it.
Funny, sad, and possessing a lot of insight into the human condition, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World balances multiple themes and does so with style.
Available on most streaming apps, and it pops up on the pay channels once in a while, this one gets four out of five stars from me (it’s actually in my Blu-Ray collection), and is worth checking out.