Review: Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

There's a scene in the third act of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World that is so poignant and engrossing, it seems to serve as the film's thesis. Dodge (Steve Carrell) has just left a letter for Olivia, our unseen love interest. When Penny (Kiera Knightley), in a flurry of confusion, asks why he did not go inside the house, and what were the contents of the letter, he tells her not to worry about it, that it will ruin the moment. After swerving off the road, they follow a silent proceeding to the ocean for a baptismal ceremony and spend the day at the beach. It was one of those days that was flawless and unforgettable, but you couldn't quite explain why; it was just the perfect, carefree, and removed from stress.

All here seems great, a powerful, cathartic statement on the unpredictable nature of life. Director Lorene Scafaria's debut feature, in this moment, settles on the importance of letting go. A few cutesy shots of Dodge and Penny establishes that the relationships at hand are the most important ones. Final moments of life aren't about doing what you've always wanted to do, but just doing.

Ending the film on this note would've been a bold and respectable decision on the director's behalf, to disregard the "what-ifs?" of the story and leave Dodge and Penny in the solace of detached bliss. Alas, Scafaria chooses the road often traveled and pursues the safe crowd-pleasing option more often than not. She does not finish what she started, abruptly forcing her darling indie dramedy towards rom-com tendancies.

Indecisive position is the biggest pitfall of Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. After last years devestating and thoughtful Melancholia, I'm quite surprised how receptive I was to a like-minded feature with a new approach. Seeking seemed like it would add a fresh perspective to the topic, as well as provide a fun, comedic alternative to the sophomoric offerings of the summer season. The first half of the film reasonably fulfills the expectation, a light and breezy comedy carefully acted by likeable leads. Sure, Carrell plays his archetypical detatched and depressed loner who needs to be saved from his own outlook. And yes, Knightley's Penny is frustratingly similar to Natalie Portman's Sam in Garden State. Nonetheless, both character's are still swoon-worthy.

But after the film's comedic climax, it takes a total nosedive into a bleak outlook on the situation at hand. Dodge and Penny, we are able to realize, are helpless and apathetic. Both never surpass the cliched caricature of middle-class shmoes who need to break out of jaded corporate life. There's a bit of a "been there, done that" mentality here; other than the impending doom of an earth-shattering asteroid, what's really new here? Even more frustrating is the contrived romance between the two, which is further trivialized by the apparent need to have a lover at the end of days. Why could the film not have settled on a more believable deep, co-dependent friendship between the leads? The film would've been more satisfying with this ending, grounded in a bit more realism without the pessimistic pre-conception that the two are forced upon each other.

That isn't to say the film is totally without charm. There are a handful of scenes where I felt choked up, but didn't feel pushed to a threshold as I had hoped. For Scafaria's first picture, Seeking is solidly entertaining and moving, despite flaws. I just hope she adapts a voice that is her own, which is quite evident she possesses, rather than assuming the one thrust upon her.

Grade: B-