The Christmas before my mother passed away was perhaps the
hardest time for me. I remember shopping for a gift for her knowing that she’d
have limited time to enjoy whatever it was I found for her. There came a
nihilistic feeling of dread, an overwhelming sense of nothing really matters.
We all knew she was sick and wouldn’t be with us for very long. What was she
going to do with yet another Christmas gift?
This same feeling of dread permeates Dodge’s life in the 2012
film “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.” Dodge, played by Steve
Carell, knows like the rest of the world knows, the world is going to end in
less than a month’s time. The cause of this coming apocalypse is not the point
of the story, suffice it to say a large asteroid is on a collision course with
the Earth. No time is spent on heroics and slow-motion shots of brave men
boarding a space-shuttle in a last ditch effort to save mankind. The conclusion
is set in stone. What matters and what the film is about is how we spend our
last moments together.
“Seeking a Friend” depicts a presumably realistic take on the
myriad of End-of-world scenarios playing about. Before wanton rioting and
violence breaks out people still go about their last days, some cling to their
routines, their jobs and family life. Some break out into hedonistic
exercises and partake in what would
normally be considered taboo. Dodge’s wife leaves him without a word. She just
up and runs away from their car while waiting at a stoplight. This puts Dodge
in an even more distressed state of affairs.
His friends try setting him up with another single friend but
Dodge fails to see the point behind it all. Why bother spending any time
getting to know anyone? It’s a valid question I think at this point. We see
Dodge still go through the pointless steps of his life as he slowly quiets the
world around him by drinking copious amounts of cough syrup with codeine.
So far this sounds like a pretty dreadful film doesn’t it? I
mean according to some famous South American calendar makers we are all in the
same boat as Dodge. Why would we want to spend our last days watching such a
depressing film. What’s surprising about “Seeking a Friend for the End of the
World” is it’s not a total downer. Dodge does find a meaning and reason to go
on through Earth’s last days. He makes a friend in his neighbor Penny (Keira
Knightly) and together they embark on a hilarious and sentimental adventure.
Steve Carell is an entirely different character here than his
more famous role from “The Office” or any other of his more mainstream comic
choices. His despair is palpable and his everyman persona allows the audience
to easily slip into his place. I was surprised and moved by Carell’s
performance on more than one occasion throughout the film.
Less inspiring is Keira Knightly’s Penny. The quirky and
irreverent girl that dances to the beat of her own drummer character seems
pretty tired at this point. There were moments in the film when I could imagine
writer/director Lorene Scafaria instructing Knightly: “ok, now, be cute!”
Nonetheless perhaps Penny, or someone like her, is exactly what
Dodge needed to pry himself away from the doldrums of life’s final days.
That Christmas I found the only thing I could give my mother
for the holiday was something I knew she’d find beautiful. My mom was in love
with the south west. I found her a wooden box carved with south western artwork
and a fun and frivolous lizard relief. It sounds strange I know, but its what
she liked. “Seeking a Friend” does just that as well. For the people clinging
to the last days of all we’ll ever know the only value to be found is in beauty
of love, of friendship of the good things that shine out over the darknesses.
Even in the darkest moments there is beauty in the things that will always hold
value: Love, Family and Friendship.
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3 and a half airplanes out of 5
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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Starring: Steve Carell, Keira Knightly, Connie Britton
Rated R for language including sexual references, some drug use
and brief violence
Runtime: 101 Minutes
