Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World

Most films about the end of the world are all big budget movies with lots of special effects. This film takes a decidedly small scale approach to what would happen if the earth was about to be hit by a meteor.
This small scale approach that writer/director Lorene Scafaria is what makes it so appealing. The meteor is never seen but is just an off screen precense which gives the film some tension. Lorene has created a character piece which looks at two different people brough together by this strange sitation. There are the usual issues of 'what would you do with your last days' that are explored and to great comedic effect. As mentioned before I like romantic comedies which have a bit of an edge to them and this film certainly has that. What appealed to me most was the black humour it has. There are some really dark jokes which you might cringe at but I really like that sort of thing. There is also a certain amount of crazy behaviour and anarchy due to the situation but I think there could have been more. However that is probably because of the films budget not allowing for too much large scale rioting. The only small problem I had was that it goes on for too long. There were a few places the film drags and I felt it could have been tighened a bit. The ending also could have been finished earlier in my opin too. It was one of the films most emotional moments and I felt would have been the perfect ending. Possibly a bit ambiguous but I like that sort of thing.
While this is the type of role that Steve Carell has done many times before, you don't seem to mind because he does it so well. He is so sweet and charming amongst all the craziness that is going on around him. It is very rare to see Kiera Knightley do a comedy like this and she is brilliant. Probably one of my favourite roles that she has done. Her free spirited character nicely balances out the rather stoic nature of Steve's. But she can also be very funny. There are some really good cameo appearences in the film too. The always great Patton Oswalt is one of the best as well as a very touching appearence by Martin Sheen.
If you like end of the world movies but get turned off by all the big budget special effects then this is the film for you. Also a wonderfully different romantic comedy.