Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
It's human nature to not know what you have until it's on the verge of being lost, or understanding what's truly important in life until a very real, inescapable countdown heralds the end. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a movie about two people meeting on the eve of the destruction of the world by a giant meteor: Dodge (Steve Carell) and Penny (Keira Knightley). Strangers at first, the two aid one another in their respective quests to reunite with someone special.
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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World has a strange yet novel premise; it is a story set against the backdrop of global annihilation but it is in reality a romantic comedy. In this way, it is reminiscent of another film, Shaun of the Dead, at least in as much as it consciously subverts expectations by playing against the genre--in this case, a disaster movie. Coincidentally, this film was released a year after Melancholia, a drama which embraced the overwhelming despair one would expect from a massive celestial object colliding with the Earth, wiping out all life. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World often seems actively determined to defy the ubiquitous presence of the apocalypse through the blossoming, yet unlikely, relationship between Dodge and Penny. Superficially, the two of them could hardly be more different; Dodge's day job (such as it is) is as an insurance agent, while Penny, in her words, "dabbles". He is a straight-laced, normal-as-can-be fellow (albeit understandably depressed, since his wife left him after hearing about of the end of the world), whereas she is a free spirit, flighty and occasionally emotional. What is unique about them, however, is that although virtually everyone else around them seems to be collapsing into varying states of apocalyptic mania--riots, wild parties, drugs, etc--both of them still stick to their core personalities and sets of values, which evolve--and not degrade--as the film progresses. This is depicted best in the first half of the film, after Dodge attends a friend's "end of the world" party, where virtually all the party goers use this as an excuse to justify hedonistic excess. Although these moments are played for a chuckle at first--like the ridiculousness of yuppie suburbanites excited to cross off "doing heroin" from their bucket list--there is an inescapable sadness and discomfort that follows. As the surrogate for rational thought, Dodge sees that this isn't how he wants to spend the end of days. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World establishes character through multiple minute details, even seemingly inconsequential ones. Penny's interest in vinyl is one thing, but more interesting is how consistent her music library is, including a variety of musicians like Leonard Cohen and The Walker Brothers--a kind of poetry that compliments her personality. Even a minor detail like a sticker for the punk rock band, The Misfits, is revisited when Dodge and Penny break into Olivia's house, there is a large poster for the band in her bedroom. All of these details help to cement the idea in the audience's mind that these characters have back story, and that their past still affects them, even when the world is about to end.
The casting of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is key, and there is a kind of unlikely chemistry between Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. Carell made a name for himself with his variations on the overly nice, superficial, business-savvy personality in "The Daily Show" and "The Office". Playing somewhat against type in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Carell delivers essentially a "straight man" performance here, one that banks toward heartfelt wistfulness. Knightley appears as the flighty hipster at first, but really embodies the qualities of a soul at one with the wind, bound to rhythm and music, so in love with life that it is literally catastrophic as the end draws near. The seething terror under the surface of Knightley's portrayal of Penny reminds me of her riveting performance in Never Let Me Go. Their romance that flourishes is the anchor of the story, where the vestiges of anxiety about delaying in living your life out of fear must fall away by necessity--the two characters literally can not afford to wait any longer in confessing their feelings for one another when the time comes. Much of the first part of the film is composed of bizarre episodes of people falling into psychological disarray at the idea of the world ending; but is this really how people would react? One could argue that Dodge's choice to continue to live his life as before--even after the radio announces the failure of the outer space expedition to stop the inappropriately-named harbinger of destruction, an asteroid named "Matilda"--comes from a kind of numbness to the reality of it, that it is itself a refusal to acknowledge this terrible truth. Certainly Dodge is not alone in this; from clerks at the store to Dodge's overly industrious maid, there is the sense that continuing on with business as usual is the only to shield the mind from accepting these mammoth threats to one's sanity. Dodge realizes this to an extent; although his personality doesn't shift dramatically, he acknowledges that he has one last shot to try to tell Gloria--the "one who got away"--how he truly felt for her so many years ago. Penny finds herself determined to aid Dodge in his mission--largely after discovering that she was incidentally responsible for him not getting a crucial letter in a timely fashion, making the excursion to Delaware a necessity--but as a result, the two of them become closer than they had been with anyone else. The message here is that because they are true with themselves, and not just a bunch of looneys looking to party until the end (like the all-too touchy-feely staff at the Applebee's knockoff, called "Friendsy's"), that they finally make that connection with that "special someone", even if it is just in the nick of time.
Recommended for: Fans of an offbeat romantic comedy that takes the daring path of attempting to poke fun at the end of the world. The black comedy elements of the first half gradually gives way to a heartfelt story of coping with regret and resisting missed opportunities when the ultimate deadline is staring you in the face.
The casting of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is key, and there is a kind of unlikely chemistry between Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. Carell made a name for himself with his variations on the overly nice, superficial, business-savvy personality in "The Daily Show" and "The Office". Playing somewhat against type in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Carell delivers essentially a "straight man" performance here, one that banks toward heartfelt wistfulness. Knightley appears as the flighty hipster at first, but really embodies the qualities of a soul at one with the wind, bound to rhythm and music, so in love with life that it is literally catastrophic as the end draws near. The seething terror under the surface of Knightley's portrayal of Penny reminds me of her riveting performance in Never Let Me Go. Their romance that flourishes is the anchor of the story, where the vestiges of anxiety about delaying in living your life out of fear must fall away by necessity--the two characters literally can not afford to wait any longer in confessing their feelings for one another when the time comes. Much of the first part of the film is composed of bizarre episodes of people falling into psychological disarray at the idea of the world ending; but is this really how people would react? One could argue that Dodge's choice to continue to live his life as before--even after the radio announces the failure of the outer space expedition to stop the inappropriately-named harbinger of destruction, an asteroid named "Matilda"--comes from a kind of numbness to the reality of it, that it is itself a refusal to acknowledge this terrible truth. Certainly Dodge is not alone in this; from clerks at the store to Dodge's overly industrious maid, there is the sense that continuing on with business as usual is the only to shield the mind from accepting these mammoth threats to one's sanity. Dodge realizes this to an extent; although his personality doesn't shift dramatically, he acknowledges that he has one last shot to try to tell Gloria--the "one who got away"--how he truly felt for her so many years ago. Penny finds herself determined to aid Dodge in his mission--largely after discovering that she was incidentally responsible for him not getting a crucial letter in a timely fashion, making the excursion to Delaware a necessity--but as a result, the two of them become closer than they had been with anyone else. The message here is that because they are true with themselves, and not just a bunch of looneys looking to party until the end (like the all-too touchy-feely staff at the Applebee's knockoff, called "Friendsy's"), that they finally make that connection with that "special someone", even if it is just in the nick of time.
Recommended for: Fans of an offbeat romantic comedy that takes the daring path of attempting to poke fun at the end of the world. The black comedy elements of the first half gradually gives way to a heartfelt story of coping with regret and resisting missed opportunities when the ultimate deadline is staring you in the face.