By Josh Bull
The writing team of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright strikes again with the action packed and hilarious sci-fi comedy “The World’s End.”
After graduating from high school, Gary King (Pegg) and his friends (Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan) attempt and fail the “Golden Mile,” a pub crawl that takes them to 12 pubs in one night, ending at the titular World’s End. Twenty years later, King remains the hedonist he was as a teenager, while his friends have moved on with their lives. King drags his friends back to their hometown of Newton Haven to try the Golden Mile a second time, only to discover something is not quite right with the town.
“The World’s End” mixes great humor, which ranges from dry wit to slapstick with a surprisingly smart plot, making it a great way to close out the summer movie season.
Each actor brings in a great performance. Pegg and Frost play against each other very well. Pegg’s performance appears to be a middle aged Ferris Bueller at first with much of the film’s humor in the first act being derived from his manipulative and immature nature, but there is far more to the character. Frost as the straight laced and stable Andy Knightly is a wonderful contrast to Pegg’s more over the top character.
While the rest of the cast has their moments, especially common Wright, Pegg and Frost collaborator Bill Nighy, special mention must be made for Martin Freeman as Oliver “O-Man” Chamberlainn, who shines during the second half of the film and is amusing all the way to the end.
However, not all movie goers will be amused by Pegg’s character as, while sympathetic, he is absolutely despicable. He is manipulative and takes advantage of everyone around him. What might not also be to everyone’s liking is that a good amount of the first act’s humor is very British with a lot of dry wordplay.
Although the film’s premise appears to set up little more than a British version of “The Hangover” or an R rated “Doctor Who,” the sincerity of the characters, intelligence and humor of the script and the leads’ performances sees this as a fantastic film to close out the summer season.
Contact Josh Bull, reporting correspondent, at jbull3@ jccc.edu