I was looking for something to watch at the weekend and was trawling through Netflix (making the most of it, in case the broadband has to go!) and came across this movie, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. The premise looked interesting and starred Keira Knightley and Steve Carell, the basic story was that a huge asteroid was on course to hit earth and wipe out humanity and everything else so, I thought, I'll give it a go! Well, with The Donald threatening WW3, we could be facing a nuke off any day now and figured I might get a few hints and tips on how to handle it, just in case!
The characters in this are 2 Hollywood stereotypes/archetypes. Carell is the boring, middle-aged insurance salesman (Gee! How original!) the earth is going to end in 3 weeks and he's still going to work! Keira is, of course, the other old Hollywood staple of what has come to be called 'Manic, pixie, dream-girl'; flakey, irresponsible, drifting along and eccentric.
I won't bore you with any of the details but I will say, there is only so much belief you can suspend when it comes to Hollywood but in a million years, and I'll say it again, in a million years!!! - I would never have put Keira Knightly (33 is her real age but I think she was supposed to be 28 in the movie) as the romantic interest of Steve Carrell (aged 55). This was wrong on so many levels that when she kissed him, my stomach turned and I nearly threw up. The story line was supposed to be about him looking for his true love and her trying to get back home to her family before the big one hit because that was what the blurb said but somewhere along the line this changed and we were supposed to believe Keira was really his true love! Completely unbelievable! I could believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy before I could believe this! I am, however, grateful for one thing, at least we were spared the sex scene, believe me, the thought of it was enough! Euuuggghhhh!
So, if the Donald kicks off with the nukes, seek a friend for the end of the world by all means, have the party, try the heroin, find the one who got away, sleep with them if you get the chance but remember that even if the world isn't going to go down in flames, that life is short and will bring its own pain, so spare yourself a little bit of suffering and give this movie a miss!