The World's End 2013

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: The World's End might be the best time you'll have at the movies all year. It is a complete blast: urgently paced, hilariously clever and blisteringly profane. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: It overflows with middle-aged angst over lost youth. And laments the generic nature of our corporate-driven culture. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: "The World's End" is more like an antic sugar high than a reeling, drunken stupor. There are no headaches, dry mouth or crushing shame at the end - no "Hangover," in other words. I'll drink to that. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: This is by light-years the most entertaining movie of the year. How many apocalyptic sci-fi action extravaganzas leave you feeling as if the world is just beginning? Read more

Drew Grant, New York Observer: It's the nerd-dream technological singularity turned into a logistical nightmare, where free will is diametrically opposed to the next stage of our evolution. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Don't feel excluded if you haven't seen the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead and the buddy cop comedy Hot Fuzz... because The World's End stands on its own as hilarious high-end nonsense. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's a little too close to "Shaun of the Dead" (and to Wright's "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World") in its structure and gags, and while there are plenty of laughs, you wish they were bigger ones, particularly in the beginning. Read more

Leslie Felperin, Variety: The latest highly enjoyable exercise in jaunty pastiche from writer-director Edgar Wright and writer-thesp Simon Pegg, the brains behind "Shaun of the Dead," and "Hot Fuzz." Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Far from pining for their glory days, Wright and company are living them now. The World's End looks, despite its title, like just the beginning for all involved. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's about as much fun as you'll have at a movie this summer, especially if you see it at one of those theaters that serve beer. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "The World's End" is more frantic than funny, but it's still funny enough-just-to outweigh its own silliness. Read more

Drew Hunt, Chicago Reader: Most of the credit belongs to Wright, whose chaotic style belies the film's meticulous construction. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The movie is madly, wonderfully at odds with itself. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: The movie throws itself headlong toward the ridiculous when it begins to live up to its title. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: This is cheeky British irreverence at its best, and there's even a bit of meaning and moral behind it all if you can see through the laughter. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: As in their previous comedies, Pegg and Frost play men who refuse to stop acting like boys. But these pint-swilling Peter Pans also know how to work the heart and the brain for belly laughs. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Wright's terrifically precise approach to comedy remains as well-honed as ever. Read more

Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter: At once a Big Chill-style old-pal reunion story and an Invasion of the Body Snatchers homage doused in beer and bad-boy humor ... Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: Even for its flaws, it is hard to ask for more from a late summer movie than "The World's End." Read more

Karen D'Souza, San Jose Mercury News: The movie never makes fun of geek tropes, but it does indulge in rapid-fire pop culture allusions that go so bloody fast you need to see it twice to catch them all. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Although its humor is not for all tastes, no one can say this crazy picture doesn't have the guts to live up to its title. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Wright knows how to keep the energy spinning, but he also doesn't know when to stop. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: The gonzo side of the plot is not quite as engaging as the human drama, and the scenes in which the characters meet up and try to mesh again are some of the best in the film. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Life's too short to waste your time on this, even if the end isn't near. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: Wright & Pegg continue making the sort of films that the 12-year-old versions of themselves probably always dreamed of being a part of; that sense of joy and practically disbelief that they actually get to do this for a living is right up there on-screen. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, New York Daily News: Some inner logic may not hold up under the sober light of day, but this unusual action-comedy has the loosey-goosey feel of something that can't miss, like a soused round of bar pool. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The movie independently bungles everything it tries, like a Central Park busker who simultaneously sucks at juggling, harmonica playing and skateboarding. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: This inspired nutball comedy is like its heroes on their mission: It just gets progressively more nuts, more blotto. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The film's strength is its comedic bent - there are some very funny moments contained herein. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: To my surprise, a diamond has emerged from the gutter. Its name is The World's End, and it'll knock you on you ass from laughing when you're not rubbing your eyes in disbelief. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Seriously, what's not to like? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "The World's End" has the aura - and this might only be an attractive illusion - of something imagined whole, in a burst of inspiration, rather than as something labored over. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: I pretty much unreservedly loved The World's End, whose compact dramatic structure and steady flow of good jokes puts most mainstream American comedies-too often loosely bundled collections of hit-or-miss sketches-to shame. Read more

Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press: "The World's End" one of those bittersweet coming-home films that show how difficult it is to really, well, go home. Because it's never the same. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's outrageous satire, bruisingly funny slapstick and - while never too snooty to stoop for lowdown laughs - deliciously smart besides. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: An arrested-development comedy that develops into something else altogether. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: Robert Frost famously mused 'Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice.' I prefer Edgar Wright's vision: It will end in a pub. Read more

Adam Nayman, Globe and Mail: If Wright doesn't quite sustain this astonishing mixture of sadness and silliness all the way through, he gets major points just for attempting it in the first place. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: This movie isn't just smart, it's also wise. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: As a beer-lover might put it, an experience that's both heady and effervescent Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: This is a tighter, smarter film than either 'Shaun of the Dead' or 'Hot Fuzz', and buried beneath all the blue-goo aliens and terrible punning is a heartfelt meditation on the perils and pleasures of nostalgia. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Wright still cuts his footage with a youthful vigor, capturing every tapped pint of lager with a snappy hiss, but his players (especially Frost and Pegg) are ready to go darker. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The movie shifts midstream ... and never regains its footing. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice: The laddish pleasures of The World's End, Edgar Wright's comedy about a group of middle-aged guys drinking beer and facing mortality, come with a bittersweet edge. Read more

Jen Chaney, Washington Post: Let's hope Wright, Pegg and Frost concoct more wild doomsday scenarios together. Their work makes for a good time at the movies ... Read more