BEFORE: There are two films with this same title, and both are on my watchlist. I can only link to one of them now, the other one may have to stay on the list for a while. But luckily this is the one that fits better into my recent themes, I'm thinking of futuristic films like "Robot & Frank" and end-of-the-world movies like "Greenland" and "Geostorm".
Bradley Whitford carries over again from "The Call of the Wild".
THE PLOT: Liza embarks on a journey through L.A. in hopes of making it to her last party before it all ends, running into an eclectic cast of characters along the way.
AFTER: Of the two recent films titled "How It Ends", this is the one that is the comedy (umm, allegedly) and the other one is an action-thriller. Been there, done that - the hot trend now is apocalyptic comedies, like "Don't Look Up" and tomorrow's film (I think). There was also "Moonfall", which I don't think is a comedy, and last year I only watched a couple big "disaster" movies, like "Godzilla vs. Kong", and maybe "Bill & Ted Face the Music" qualifies. I was busy watching a different kind of "disaster" movie last year, like the "Scooby-Doo" films. But other recent entries in this genre have included "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World", "This Is the End" "Rapture-Palooza" and "The World's End".
Specifically, this is about how Los Angelenos might deal with the end of the world, the disaster in question here is once again a comet, only it's not really about the comet, it's about how people choose to spend their last 24 hours. It's a done deal, we can't stop the comet, so the world ends at 2 am - are you going to spend your time trying in vain to run away, or are you instead going to try to get really high, get laid and take advantage of your last chance to party? The lead character(s) here go with the second option, but getting across L.A. is difficult because someone stole her car - they must have needed it to try to outrun the comet. So on her way to the last party ever, Liza takes the opportunity to visit her father, her former best friend and her mother, in the hopes of settling some accounts, and coming to some kind of closure.
Liza's companion is her younger self, it seems that the impending doom has caused everyone to operate on some kind of "higher frequency", and for a select few, their inner child has become visible, and possibly real. "Little Liza" is surprised to learn that the guy Liza wants to buy drugs from can see her, I guess previously she was only visible to her older self? Along they way the pair also meet the younger self of a 92-year old man who's housebound, and "Young Manny" is just happy to be able to get outside, enjoy a muffin and be seen by other people.
Now, young Manny is played by Fred Armisen, who is known for his penchant for improvisation, and that's when I started to realize that the vast majority of this film, perhaps all of it, was improvised. This explains a lot, perhaps one actor had the idea of interacting with their younger self, and the whole film just kind of ran with that. The two Lizas also encounter a woman who's decided to do stand-up comedy out in the street for her final day on Earth, and another woman who's sitting out on the street with her guitar, doing a free concert for the same reason. I've got to say, these L.A. people are pretty chill considering that they've all only got a few hours to live - in other cities people are probably running around all crazy, killing each other, looting and raping, but in Los Angeles, people are making bold career moves at the last minute!
Liza also stops by the apartment of an ex-boyfriend, Larry, but she's not the only one. Women have been dropping by all day to confront Larry over the way he cheated on them or ended the relationship with them, OK, so Larry's had a busy, interesting life and he can't even keep all his stories and excuses straight, with so many women looking for resolution. And then there are the two men arguing about recycling, and one turns out to be an environmentalist who also is a science-denier, so I guess it takes all kinds. But the fact that these men are standing so far apart really shows that this is the type of film that was getting made during the COVID-19 pandemic, you'll notice that the actors were all practicing social distancing, and Liza encounters them all one at a time, they never all join up, like the characters in "The Wizard of Oz", she just meets each one and then heads on back down the road, alone. Well, except for her younger self. It's also telling that there are NO cars driving around - in L.A. - which only makes sense if everyone is at home, quarantining, so I guess the film couldn't have been made during any other time in history.
She finally makes it to the party, which turns out to be a bit of a non-starter because the hostess took too many drugs, and the most famous person there is Pauly Shore - who's just happy to still be alive, because by his own account he should have died years ago. I honestly can't tell if this bit is tongue-in-cheek or too close to reality to count as comedy. But in the end Liza decides it's best to face the comet at home, just with her younger self and a pair of 3-D glasses. (Only, last-second NITPICK POINT, how did she get back home in time?)
I hope that I can link to "Don't Look Up", sometime in August or September, or even November. Because with three films about world-ending comets in one year, then that becomes a theme...wait, I forgot about "The Tomorrow Man", I think I'm already at three. OK, so let's try for four.
Also starring Zoe Lister-Jones (last seen in "State of Play"), Cailee Spaeny (last seen in "On the Basis of Sex"), Helen Hunt (last seen in "The Night Clerk"), Olivia Wilde (last seen in "Life Itself"), Fred Armisen (last seen in "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny"), Lamorne Morris (last seen in "Yesterday"), Nick Kroll (last seen in "Operation Finale"), Logan Marshall-Green (last seen in "Spider-Man: Homecoming"), Finn Wolfhard (last seen in "The Goldfinch"), Whitney Cummings (last seen in "Made of Honor"), Tawny Newsome, Glenn Howerton (last seen in "The Hunt"), Rob Huebel (last seen in "How to Be a Latin Lover"), Paul Scheer (last seen in "The Last Blockbuster"), Colin Hanks (last seen in "Get Over It"), Charlie Day (last seen in "Going the Distance"), Mary Elizabeth Ellis (last seen in "Masterminds"), Bobby Lee (last seen in "Keeping Up with the Joneses"), Sharon Van Etten, Ayo Edebiri, Paul W. Downs (last seen in "Like Father"), Angelique Cabral, Raymond Cham Jr., Pauly Shore (last seen in "Sandy Wexler")
RATING: 3 out of 10 pancakes in a giant stack
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