Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)

May 15, 2023 10:23 AM

As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic.

I generally thought this movie was good. Probably relatively rare being an apocalyptic rom-com but it does have the slightly-quirky female lead (played by Keira Knightley), so maybe not that uncommon. Also a bit surprising seeing Steve Carell playing a leading man but it worked for the character.

posted by gofordays (3 comments total)

I saw this in the cinema, and I remember someone sobbing aloud as the screen faded to black at the end. There's a lot to quibble about with this film, and it's not for everyone, but I absolutely love it.

My favourite moment is when the main characters are driving through the suburbs and someone in the background is mowing their lawn. I think about that a lot - how great it would be if, when you heard the world was ending, you were happy to spend the last days doing your regular things.
posted by orbific at 12:41 PM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

orbirific, I know exactly the driving part you're referring to but I must have missed the lawn mower. I'm not sure what mundane task I would keep doing even if the world were ending. The male lead goes into work for a while... I'm pretty sure I wouldn't do that. I'd probably keep doing the weekly laundry but that's not as unnecessary as mowing one's lawn.

Relatedly, the thing that stuck out for me as I was watching it late at night was that all long-term agreements between people sort of don't matter when you know the world is ending in X days (which is why I wouldn't go into work). Overall, it made me feel... disappointed (?) about how fragile our societies are (kind of silly given that, in this scenario, the world is ending...). The movie later made that explicit (and amusing) in the scene with the cop giving the main characters a ticket to be paid after the end of the world.

I agree, for a romantic comedy, it definitely punched above its weight.
posted by gofordays at 8:18 AM on May 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

good film. really tender towards the leads.
posted by j_curiouser at 4:03 AM on May 17, 2023