This movie is not for the faint of heart. I was expecting a comedy, which is what this
movie is for the first half, but don’t run out and see it if you want to see something
completely light-hearted. The first half is definitely a comedy but the second half takes a sad turn. It vacillates between a little bit of happy and a little bit of sad throughout its entire 95 minute run.

I should also warn you that if you’re not especially partial to macabre humor, this movie may not be for you; At least not the first half of it anyway. However, if you are a fan of the macabre, then you’ll probably love it!

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is about everyman Dodge (Steve Carrell) coping with the fact that his wife just left him and also the slight inconvenience of the fact that the world is going to end in four weeks. Dodgeʼs friends pressure him to find someone new, but he just wants to wallow. Besides, what’s the point of finding someone new when you only have four weeks left to live? Luckily, Dodgeʼs British apartment dweller Penny (Keira Knightley) breaks up with her boyfriend (Adam Brody) just in time to meet Dodge. I wasn’t so sure about Keira
Knightley in this role. Of course I’m used to seeing her in Pirates and historical dramas, but I wasn’t sure I’d like her alongside Steve Carrell in an end-of-the-world comedy, but she played Penny brilliantly and it was a breath of fresh air to see her in a new light. Knightley and Carrell complement each other well.

Dodge and Penny end up traveling together to find Dodgeʼs long-lost high school lover,
and get Penny to the pilot Dodge knows so she can get to her family in England. They
have a grand old time road tripping across the East Coast landscape, though the laughs
fall a bit short. There’s humor, but not enough of it. They certainly tried, but as far as
laughs go this movie was really hit or miss for me.

Penny and Dodgeʼs relationship is obviously inevitable, but it takes a little bit too long to get moving. I felt like there was a lot of stalling going on. The two lost souls end up hooking up in their stolen truck after a (not funny enough) encounter with a restaurant whose entire staff is rolling on E, but then forget about it. And then don’t remember that they actually like each other until much later when everyone knows the world is ending and on which day. I don’t know about you, but if I knew the world was ending, I would not be wasting any time waiting around or stalling anyone!

The first half of this movie is fun and light-hearted, but all of a sudden

in the middle of it I found myself crying. The second half of the movie is sad, like, really sad! I was a little bit confused at that point. This movie almost seemed like it couldn’t decide what genre it
was or what type of tone it wanted to have. Some of it was goofy, then the next moment
it was heart-breaking.

For its subject matter, though, one can’t really expect any less. If the world was ending some would be treating it like a joke while others would be crying all day. So the movie as a whole is a little bit of a tangled mash-up of different feelings.

The last thirty minutes or so of the movie were so good, though, that it was hard to be
mad about anything, even the mild confusion I was suffering from. This movie made me want to live my life like the world was really ending, which I think was the overall goal of the film anyway.

If you’re looking for a funny yet sad yet happy yet depressing yet optimistic movie, this
one’s for you. It will make you want to hold onto the one you love, and who could ask for
more?

Synopsis:

As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.