| “Rapture-Palooza” is based on a true story. Or, so it says at the very beginning of the movie, and then you know exactly what type of humour you’re getting yourself into. It’s funny, extremely funny. The type of funny that you’re laughing out loud so often that you need to rewind to catch all the jokes you missed; it’s also the offensive kind of funny. It’s offensive, extremely offensive. | | 2013
Directed by: Paul Middleditch
Screenplay by: Chris Matheson
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson
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The rapture is coming, and there will be some people who don’t make it into heaven. Gays, musicians, and gay musicians. The movie is set in Seattle. Where God has left a lot of people behind: namely, Lindsey (Anna Kendrick), her boyfriend Ben (John Francis Daley), and her family. Her mother (Ana Gasteyer) did originally get into heaven, but she got kicked out; presumably, due to her complaining about how unorganized and unprofessional it was, or she was in the wrong line. Comedienne Ana Gasteyer is funnier in small doses; her complaining and screaming the entire way through makes it a little less funny.
Every rapture-based idea and image is skewered. As the plot begins, they even have Lindsey and Ben reading the Bible to understand what exactly is going to happen and what they can do about it. Ben comments that it’s all just pieced together as if nobody thought it through. That’s a common complaint about this movie, but when you have so many random things to make fun of, how is it not going to appear random?
The plot introduces Craig Robinson as the Beast, aka the Antichrist, aka the devil. He’s a former politician who is now in charge of the whole world. And he’s funny too. The film pits our everyman heroes, Lindsey and Ben, versus the Beast and they’re either going to save the world (what’s left of it) or destroy it in the process. They use the Bible to best figure out how to beat evil, but turns out it's easier said than done. It gets a bit chaotic in their non-ending struggle to save themselves from evil. But everything in this movie is a mocking of the good vs evil debate and every other Christian idea.
In the long line of end of the world movies, this one is closer to “This Is the End” (2013) at least in terms of the humour, but religious ideas have probably never been as relentlessly attacked as they are in this film. Only for those ready to laugh at the impending rapture.
Who Might Like This: People who like end of the world comedies; anybody who likes skewering religious-based ideas; fans of Craig Robinson.
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