You like wacky, hyperreferential movies that tap the fan boy brainstem? Sure you do. So do we — which is why we had a pair of critics compare notes on what is already being hailed as one of the year's funniest films. Pour an imperial pint of your favorite beverage and join us on a spoiler-laden journey through the workings of The World's End. Joel Arnold: I went into The World's End, the last of this summer's spate of , with a spring in my step and "The Boys Are Back in Town" playing in my head. I couldn't help it. Those wild-eyed Brits responsible for the quick-witted zomcom and the thrilling sendup of the big-budget police actioner have been off doing all sorts of interesting things. Director Edgar Wright adapted , co-writer and star Simon Pegg appeared in and costar Nick Frost turned in memorable roles in and . But they're together again for the final entry to their Cornetto trilogy, so named for the UK ice cream brand that's popped up in the previous two films. Like them, The World's End explores notions of friendship and growing up while playfully mucking about with genre. This time, it's about friends reliving their glory days (or days best forgotten) while attempting to finally finish the epic bar crawl they almost made it through 20 years earlier in their suburban hometown. Ian, we've both seen Shaun, Fuzz and the gang's earlier TV series Spaced, and to me something feels distinctly off about this collaboration — and it's not just the suspicious residents of Newton Haven. Did this feel like a Wright-Pegg movie worthy of its predecessors? Critic Ian Buckwalter says that in the Cornetto trilogy films, Simon Pegg and the ensemble convey the "sense of joy and practically disbelief that they actually get to do this for a living." Ian Buckwalter: I can identify with that "off" feeling you describe, but for me, it's largely a function of the thing that I think makes these collaborations so strong: this team's determination not to live in the past. That's a little ironic, given that that's what this film is all about, our inability to leave the past behind, exemplified by Pegg's Gary, who is still wearing the same Sisters of Mercy T-shirt, the same black duster, driving the same car and listening to the same mixtapes that he was 20 years ago. I can recall a similar feeling watching Hot Fuzz the first time, that it wasn't quite what I was expecting, because it wasn't the same as Shaun, despite the cleverly recycled jokes, the familiar format, the shared themes. But it refused to give us the same thing as Shaun did, and I had to fight my own urge to be Gary and want more of the same. In the end, I accepted Fuzz as something entirely of its own and went with it, and did the same with The World's End. What didn't work for you? Continue reading the rest of our discussion over at NPR.
