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

As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.

Director:

Lorene Scafaria

Writer:

Lorene Scafaria

Stars:

Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Melanie Lynskey

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Carell	...	Dodge
Keira Knightley	...	Penny
Adam Brody	...	Owen
Connie Britton	...	Diane
Roger Aaron Brown	...	Alfred
Rob Huebel	...	Jeremy
Trisha Gorman	...	Crying Woman
Nancy Carell	...	Linda
Mark Moses	...	Anchorman
Tonita Castro	...	Elsa
Leslie Murphy	...	Amy
Rob Corddry	...	Warren
Kasey Campbell	...	Danny
Melanie Lynskey	...	Karen
Vince Grant	...	Man #1 / Chip

Storyline

An asteroid named "Matilda" is on a collision course towards Earth and in three weeks the world will come to an absolute end. What would you do if your life and the world were doomed? One man decides to spend his time searching for his long lost love from high school during the coming catastrophe.

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Plot Keywords:

end of the world | title directed by female | road trip | human extinction | apocalypse | 

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Taglines:

The end is coming soon

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language including sexual references, some drug use and brief violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the vinyl records Penny chooses to take with her when fleeing her flat and is clearly seen being carried around during the highway scene is 'The Beat of the Brass' by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.

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Goofs

When Dodge is listening to the LP record and the power goes out you can hear the audio as the record slows down. The audio should have gone off immediately with the small receiver shown.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Radio Announcer: OK, what we're getting now is - yes, they're saying it was in fact a fire that erupted inside the external tank of the ship, exactly ninety-eight seconds after it entered the asteroid field. No one is sure what caused the fire which led to the massive explosion, killing all twelve crew members and scientists aboard the space shuttle Deliverance, taking with them our last and only hope. Once again, if you're just tuning in, the CSA space shuttle Deliverance has been destroyed. The ...
[...]

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Connections

Features American Gladiators (1989)

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Soundtracks

Cinco de Hiphop
Written by Christian Salyer (as Cadence Blaze) and Francisco Santacruz
Performed by Francisco Santacruz
Courtesy of 5 Alarm Music

User Reviews

Brace yourself for impact...

Actually I had expected this to be somewhat more of a comedy, but it turned out to be a much better experience than just another average comedy. "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" turned out to be a very beautiful and emotional movie, with just a pinch of great comedy added to spice it up.

The story is about the end of days approaching as an asteroid is bound for Earth, and will destroy the planet upon impact. Dodge (played by Steve Carell) finds himself abandoned by his wife upon this news and tries to go on with his life for the last 21 days before the world comes to end. He gets acquainted with a downstairs neighbor, Penny (played by Keira Knightley) whom he haven't talked with for the past 3 years of living in the same apartment building. These two very different spirits end up on a road trip together to get Dodge to his high school girlfriend and get Penny aboard an airplane for Great Britain. Their journey proves to be more than life changing.

The storyline for "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" was really great, and bizarre wonderful in a weird way. There is this whole gloomy downtrodden feel to it as people are trying to cope with coming to terms with life ending within 3 weeks. But at the same time, there is such a strong emotional journey taking place as we follow Dodge and Penny on their path to their destinations. The movie is driven by great characters and by superb acting. There is just the right amount of absurd and dark comedy to this movie that helps build up the right atmosphere.

I was genuinely surprised by this movie. I knew that it wouldn't be a horrible movie, because Steve Carell usually delivers great performances and do good comedy. But his deliverance in this movie was just phenomenal. He was so well-cast for this movie. As was Keira Knightley, and their chemistry on the screen was just sizzling.

The movie also boasts some rather great cameo appearances, all of whom really helped adding to the movie, by actors and actresses such as Rob Corddry, Patton Oswalt, William Petersen and, of course, Martin Sheen.

"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" is a definite to-watch-movie for any movie aficionado, because it is very beautiful and moving in many ways. I am really happy that I sat down to watch this movie. And to top it off, this is the type of movie that leaves you with a parting gift, something to think about; what would you do if you only had 21 days left before the world ended?

Oh, and as a final note, if you are prone to tear in beautiful movies, you might keep a tissue at hand for the ending of this movie. Just a word of advice.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 June 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,822,803, 24 June 2012

Gross USA:

$7,078,738

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$11,681,781

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Mandate Pictures, Indian Paintbrush

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1