Trailer Hitch: 'This is The End,' starring Rogen and Franco

By Steven Zeitchik

April 2, 2013 12 AM PT

What if a disaster-movie sendup bred with a potty-mouthed Seth Rogen comedy and a James Franco-playing-James Franco Sundance-y experiment? The answer would be Sony’s “This Is The End,” to the question you may well not have asked.

In the don’t-call-it-a-”Pineapple-Express”-sequel from Rogen and creative partner Evan Goldberg, the apocalypse arrives during a party attended by a lot of famous young actors. That allows them to say and do the outrageous things as themselves, or at least as themselves under air quotes.

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What do these activities entail? They fight over a Milky Way. They say things like, “We actors pretend to be hard; we soft as baby...” Michael Cera meets a gruesome end. And there are plenty of art-imitating-life jokes, like when Emma Watson shows up as a violent looter and prompts a “Hermione just stole all of our [stuff]” quip.

For Franco-philes, it’s also the latest juke step from the man currently on screen in the biggest family-entertainment hit of the year.

Tradition and standards overseers at this family paper preclude us from posting this red-band trailer just released. But if you’re interested and of age, you can view it here. The comedy hits June 14.

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