Film Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

This article titled “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World – review” was written by Philip French, for The Observer on Saturday 14th July 2012 23.03 UTC

One of the funniest of apocalyptic jokes came to Anthony Burgess while listening to the conclusion of a BBC World Service news bulletin, and he subsequently used it as the title of his marvellous 1982 novel The End of the World News. There is nothing comparably amusing in the supposed romantic comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, the directorial debut of Lorene Scafaria, screenwriter on the peculiarly inane teen comedy Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. With 14 days left before the collision between a giant asteroid and our planet, most Americans are behaving as if there is no tomorrow, and two sad people meet on the Eastern seaboard. Dodge (Steve Carell) is an insurance salesman deserted by his wife, Penny (Keira Knightley) is a whining Englishwoman dumped by her exploitative lover. This dreary, lugubrious couple, who couldn’t find a joke if it fell out of a cracker on to a dinner plate, prepare to face Judgment Day, and perhaps a playful deity is testing us to see whether we have any faith in the future of this world. “Knock knock.” “Who’s there?” “Armageddon”. “Armageddon who?” “Armageddon tired of watching this lousy movie.”

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