The comedic genius of Jonah Hill in ‘This Is The End’
Although it often gets forgotten amid the long list of mainstream movies, 2013’s This Is The End is a comedic masterpiece. In many ways, the project is archived as the last hurrah of the James Franco and Seth Rogen-led set of actors. Much of this, of course, is down to Franco’s well-publicised indiscretions.
Even though This Is The End was released nearly a decade ago, it still provides as many laughs as it did on the day it arrived on cinema screens. The film ranks amongst the group’s very finest work, sitting proudly alongside older titles such as Pineapple Express and Superbad.
Written and directed by Superbad masterminds Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, This Is The End follows fictionalised versions of James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson as they navigate the unfolding apocalypse.
A thrill of a ride that boasts a host of other A-listers playing surreal accounts of themselves, including Rihanna, Emma Watson, Channing Tatum, and most memorably Michael Cera, this was the romp that the group had always teased, with the project capping off an eminent run of movies for Millennial and Gen Z audiences.
While there are many notable elements throughout the movie, from the soundtrack to the number of famous that provide on-screen cameos, it is arguable that the highlight comes from Jonah Hill. Playing what is meant to be a greatly inverted version of himself, as far as self-deprecation goes, the performance represents the very best.
To contextualise, This Is The End was released at a time when Hill began to segue from the young, curly-haired jokester from Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The 40-Year-Old Virgin to a bonafide star in his own right. He has now completed that transition, with Hill the most respected actor that featured in the 2013 comedy.
In 2011, Hill was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for that year’s sports drama Moneyball. Then, just two years later, he would again be nominated for his performance in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street. After that point, Hill’s career entered a new realm, with him acting in more serious titles such as True Story, Hail, Caeser! and War Dogs. He has also become a respected auteur thanks to his 2018 passion project Mid90s, and the 2022 documentary, Stutz.
So, at the time of This Is The End, Jonah Hill was a man whose career was in metamorphosis, and this is something that Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen touched on with verve. The version of Jonah Hill they conceived could not have been further from the presentation of the man who directed the skateboarding-based Mid90s.
The Jonah Hill that his fans were handed during the film was a diamond stud-wearing, two-faced and slightly camp individual who is a send-up of many Hollywood denizens. This sentiment is best typified by the genius scene when he tells Danny McBride that there’s been “fatalities”, with the stone-cold look on his face proving to be a moment of genius. It infers just how fake Hollywood can be, and it never gets old.
One of the subplots in the movie is that Jay Baruchel – the main character – hates Jonah Hill and instantly calls him out for how fake he is. We first meet Hill when he joins Baruchel and Rogen in conversation at James Franco’s party, chiming in with lines such as “weed is tight” and the spelling of his Spaniel’s name, “Ahjhai”, which is ridiculously pretentious. At this early point, it is clear that Hill is to become an antagonist, with his character vastly different to those he was usually typecast in.
The extent of Hill’s evil comes to the fore when he prays for Baruchel’s death. He is then possessed by a demon, which forces the rest of the gang to exorcise him. However, as is often the way with casual exorcisms, it is not a straightforward procedure. Their hopes to rid themselves of the evil force are interrupted by his relentless mocking of their attempts. He laughs and repeatedly questions the power of Christ compelling him, before saying: “Guess what? It’s not that compelling”. He then tells Rogen that he sold out before he finally gets his comeuppance by being set on fire.
The way in which This Is The End parodies stars is incredible writing. Second only to what Ricky Gervais offered in Extras, the film is brimming with hilarious and somewhat thought-provoking takes on celebrities, with the zenith of this coming in the form of Jonah Hill, whose performance is one of his finest.
It also begs the question, what is he really like?
