You want a novel
concept for a romantic comedy? How’s
this? Two people meet just as the world
learns that a 70-mile wide asteroid will destroy the Earth in three weeks’
time. Nothing says “light-hearted
romance” like THAT scenario, huh? You might
think that any movie trying to combine or cross genres as diverse as romance,
comedy and Armageddon would sway one way or the other to such a degree that the
result would seem like satire, but writer/director Lorene Scafaria has
managed to avoid that pitfall with a great premise, great dialogue and great
performances by her cast.
As the movie
begins, we see Dodge (Steve Carell) and his wife hearing news on the radio of a
failed attempt to divert the asteroid, and how the End is now a foregone
conclusion. She instantly leaves him to
find the man she’s always really loved, never to be seen again. It seems most people are taking the
opportunity of this remaining time to indulge in all of the lawlessness and
hedonism from which we restrain ourselves every day, as the yuppies spend their
last days snorting heroin and having orgies, and the street folk loot and riot
and vandalize. Dodge, however, copes by making
his way to work the next day, one of the few people who are even bothering to
do so, even though there’s probably little sense in selling insurance policies
that can’t last for another month, but primarily because there’s really nothing
else left in his life.
As the riotous
masses begin to swarm over his neighborhood, Dodge escapes with Penny (Keira Knightley),
a downstairs neighbor, and the two begin something of a road-trip; he resolving
to find the “One Who Got Away” and she trying to find a way to get back across
the Atlantic to her family in England.
They meet all sorts along the way, from Ecstasy-fueled servers at an
overly-friendly restaurant, to survivalists who don’t totally “get” the
impending Doom, to a clueless local policeman who still takes his job pretty
seriously. Of course, they come to learn
a good bit about each other along the way and form a bond that more than likely
would never have developed in more-normal times.
Everybody loves
Steve Carell, primarily from the American television version of “The Office” (and
while I’ve always been a fan of his, too, I am almost certainly the last person
in the entire nation who has never seen that show). What I find interesting about his screen
presence is how, while he’s not traditional leading-man material, he can carry
a movie while serving as sort of an emotional fulcrum – he may not always be
the one doing the deeds the carry the movie, but he can be what other
characters act upon, steering him into situations that drive a story (see The 40-Year Old Virgin and Dan in Real Life, for example). His portrayal of Dodge is of such a hapless nice
guy that when he tries to do something as simple as release his Hispanic cleaning
lady from the responsibility of her last few weekly visits so that she can be
with her family and await The End, even that attempt at a kindly act falls on
its face.
Knightley’s portrayal
of Penny is just as impressive (and she even gets to chain-smoke while onscreen,
which seems to be a prerequisite to her accepting any role anymore, but I
digress…), as she convincingly conveys the notion of this person who has lived
such a care-free lifestyle finally realizing there are things she should have
been caring about all along.
I’m reluctant to
outline the plot in any more detail, as seeing the details in black and white
make them seem almost like satire, but the screenplay rises so far above whatever
the mere reading of a synopsis would lead you to think. There are no action-film clichés about some
heroic means of avoiding the cataclysm (at least onscreen, anyway). No, this film is more about how fairly
ordinary Joe-Schmoes might behave in the days leading up to The End than it is
about The End itself. Carell and
Knightley, an unlikely cinematic pairing if there ever was one, keep a focal
point of relative sanity throughout their quest as they approach the inevitable
end.
The premise does
make one think about how awful it would be to know exactly when you’re going to
die (a character who gives Dodge and Penny a ride even says, “it’s not natural for
a man to know”). As awful as that
knowledge must be, multiply it by about seven and a half billion, and surely
whatever civil disorder portrayed in this film or any other would pale in
comparison to what we human degenerates would actually commit. Sure, some of us would behave badly, but some
of us might do as Dodge and Penny do, and spend the last of our time focusing
on those we love instead.
I’m
sure we’re supposed to feel some sort of happiness that these two people might end
up together, but my desire for a “happy ending” (as happy as the End of the
World can possibly be) is at conflict with my more rational understanding that
these two people aren’t actually in love, and in more normal times, never would
be. I did find it sort of uplifting to
know that these two lonely people find an emotion, and possibly even a true
friendship, to share in such a way that neither must face the End alone. Seeking
a Friend… is a very unique movie experience, as even with the knowledge
of how it must end, there are still lots of places where the movie made me
smile and enjoy getting to know these characters, if only for their few final
days.
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