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

[Frayed Knot]

OK, I really liked this story of a lonely insurance salesman (Steve Carrell) and a quirky girl (Keira Knightly) finding each other in the final weeks prior to the 'no one here's gettin out alive' asteroid hits the earth ...
BUT (teensy spoiler alert ahead)







... where exactly is Martin Sheen taking her on that plane?
To England? In a plane that size?!?!!

[Edgy MD]

I was looking for something --- ANYTHING --- to watch on a transatlantic flight, and I couldn't get through the first act on this.

[Vic Sage]

It starts pretty slowly, but as the romantic tragedy of the 2nd half unfolds, I was totally smitten by it. The final moments are simultaneously beautifully uplifting and terribly sad, and well worth the journey. As for Mr. Sheen's flight, sorry but thinking about the fuel capacity of his plane was not the first (or even last) thought i had while watching this love story wind toward its inevitable conclusion. Maybe he was going to make a pit stop on a newly risen Atlantis.

[Frayed Knot]

It wasn't the first thing I thought of either.
It was just when I caught up with it on cable last week (I had originally seen it maybe a year ago) I had a kind of "hey, wait a minute" moment.



"It starts pretty slowly" --- It did, although there were still some sly little chuckles in there. The magazine rack he passes at one point with some issue headlined with a THE BEST OF HUMANITY banner up top and a picture of Christ and Oprah underneath was one of several LOL moments.

[Vic Sage]

Yes, there are some early laughs, but the first 1/2 plays mostly like a not-so-hilarious satire that i thought was less successful than the poignant love story it becomes during the 2nd half.

Carrell's hangdog loser sleepwalking through the last days of life on Earth is a performance that drags down the energy of the early satirical elements. But as he evolves into a romantic character, his energy begins to match Knightly, which makes the love story work. The movie is a bit schizophrenic in that way, and if you just watched the first 1/2 (well, maybe first 1/3), you'd have a very different idea about the tone and nature of this movie than if you'd seen the 2nd part.