Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Steve Carrell once again does the introverted, white-collar schlub thing alongside a horribly miscast Kiera Knightly as they come to terms with the impending Apocalypse – an asteroid is set to obliterate earth and all mankind in three weeks.

What starts well enough as a rowdy comedy looking at the different ways people cope when confronted by their own mortality – the misanthropy of some smartly juxtaposed with the benevolence of others – unfortunately descends into a confused hotch-potch of moralising and heavy-handed, unconvincing romance for much of the second and third act, the jokes progressively drying-up to transform Seeking a Friend from tonally compromised to ultimately a completely different, much worse film than where we began. Carrell is fine in a role he can (and does) sleepwalk through, but Knightly struggles as the deeply annoying Penny, yet another female part for which writers have deemed character quirks a suitable substitute for actual character. She likes vinyl lots and sleeps heavily, so’s you know. [Chris Fyvie]