Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

While watching the new apocalyptic romantic comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, I was wondering if there could possibly be a satisfying ending to the story that was being told. Writer/director Lorene Scafaria has a killer premise, but the film she creates is such an odd combination of the comic and the achingly sincere that at some point she is doomed to lean too far to one side and ultimately throw the entire universe out of whack. The ending she chooses is neither the best nor the worst possible way to resolve the story, and that just about matches my reaction to the film in its entirety. Scafaria has created a very funny and sometimes moving film, and she spends much of her time ably walking that tightrope between hilarious comedy and tear-inducing tragedy. She never falls off, but perhaps it would have been beneficial to take a leap or two.

Steve Carell is Dodge Petersen, an insurance salesman whose wife runs away from him once it is learned that an asteroid is going to collide with Earth in three weeks. He is left alone and regretting his entire life, but his downstairs neighbor Penny (Keira Knightley) encourages him to hit the road in search of his long lost love Olivia. In their journey they observe how various sorts of people are dealing with their impending doom; an issue they are dealing with themselves.

Seeking a Friend… is ultimately more about its parts than the whole, since on a macro level you realize that there isn’t a whole lot that’s profound about the entire story. The film is at its best when it observes the behavior of the doomed and how it ranges from the relatively wholesome to the downright anarchic. It’s also in many of these scenes that the uncomfortable balance between comedy and tragedy is most successful. The most memorable sequence is an extended dinner party featuring characters played by Patton Oswalt, Connie Britton, Rob Corddry and others that quickly devolves. At first it’s just a bunch of adults sitting around having a conversation about the imminent apocalypse. Soon they’re giving the kids alcohol, making out with each other and casually shooting heroin because it was on their “bucket list.” Dodge is clearly uncomfortable with this, and the audience shares this feeling, but it’s in these moments that the film most directly addresses the issue of how people would react to the news of their imminent demise.

It’s unfortunate that the movie becomes infinitely less interesting the more it focuses on the Carrell/Knightley relationship. Both actors are quite good, but there’s no disputing that this is the most familiar territory the movie ever explores. It might have been a bit more interesting if the two never had genuine romantic feelings for each other, but instead those feelings inevitably come and we are forced to join along for the entire predictable ride. It makes sense that the film ultimately retreats inward the further it goes along, but the decision to place the audience in the middle of a well-worn romantic plot significantly dulls the edge the film had worked so hard to generate beforehand. It quickly goes from being a dark comedy to a plain ol’ love story, and the former is the far more interesting path to take.

Back to the ending, which I will not reveal but I will say feels like too tidy a solution to a messy situation. I will reveal that it’s not the stupidest possible ending, which would have involved a last-minute news report saying the Earth is actually not going to end, but it has more to do with where a couple characters end up both emotionally and physically. It’s hard not to appreciate the sincerity of what Scafaria is going for, but it’s also hard not to yearn for a slightly bolder final product. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World ends up being a slight film rather than a significant one, and considering the talent involved that is not an inconsiderable loss.

Grade: B-