RAPTURE PALOOZA

I thought finally, something in the comedy genre I was actually excited about. It’s been a long time since an off the wall, original comedy has come out of Hollywood. I think the reason is they just don’t know how to make one. This brings me to Rapture Palooza. It’s colorful analogies, zany catch phrases and comic book speech bubbles. It’s something you would expect to see in films like “Scott Pilgrim vs The World” or “Detention” (equally as bad) It just fails to make its mark on the genre and leaves you feeling dirty.

“Rapture Palooza” stars Anna Kendrick (End of watch, Pitch Perfect and 50 50) Craig Robinson, John Francis Daley and Rob Corddry. I’m not going to say much about Rob Corddry other than, In my opinion the guy is just not funny. It may be the material written for him, or his comedic timing and expressions. I think a combination of both of these aspects are the proble. It would be a good change of pace to see him in a more mature role. Any who. “Rapture Palooza” we have the concept of the rapture. The end of days, blood rain from the sky’s, zombies and hoards of demons and only those who “believe” in the all mighty god shall be called upon in heaven. Now if your like me and you’re an atheist, you have probably been waiting for Hollywood to cover this topic. A ridiculous black comedy/satire film is the perfect canvas right? it sounds promising doesn’t it? well that’s as far as it goes…

The film put’s us in Lindsey (Kendrick) and Ben’s shoes (Daley) They’re a couple hoping to get married and start their sandwich trolley business? (as you do when the world is ending) They want to have some sort of normal existence in a post rapture world. The earth is decaying and constant fiery lava rocks are crushing everything around them. The Anti-Christ played by Craig Robinson, basically controls the earth from Seattle? or I forget.. (wherever it was) any who. They band together and plan to lock up the Anti-Christ (in a kennel of all places, which of course makes total sense? thus they don’t have to conform to his ways.

If you are still reading I will detail why this movie just didn’t work. First off, if you’re going to make a film about the rapture, heaven and hell, god’s will etc, it has to be clever and witty. You hope that it will make you question your faith (or lack of) even if it is done in a comedic way. What we have with “Rapture Palooza” is a bunch of pubic region jokes, sexual innuendo, masturbation jokes and zombies buying marijuana from stoned teens. These are all very crass, cheap gags that you would expect from some of Judd Apatow’s latest films. It’s not clever, it’s not witty. Kendricks narration leaves little to be desired. The “special effects” are rather pathetically crafted CGI that makes the stuff on the Syfy channel look good. The most disappointing thing is not once is anything we are told in the Bible vs Science, Adam and Eve, Evolution or The Big Bang Theory explored or debated. I was expecting these aspects to be made light of? Forgive me if I’m wrong but wasn’t that the point? Isn’t that why we discuss the logic of god and religion?

Now I will admit I couldn’t watch this, I only got around 45- 50 minutes in.  I don’t know if anything became funny when Ken Jeong (Hangover trilogy) appears as God. I may have missed something but i chuckled twice in 45 minutes and that’s not what I’m looking for in a black satire about religion. Is it the worst film I have ever seen? No definitely not. There were a couple of cool little sequences. However, I should have known the second Rob Corddry appeared in the film that it wouldn’t be something for me. Please give him the opportunity to show his acting ability in a different role. This was a poor excuse for a comedy, Anna you can do so much better….

My rating for Rapture Palooza is  3/10