In 2011 New York, 33-year-old Warren (Fogler) is an unemployed graphic novelist haunted by dreams about the world ending in December 2012. Perhaps this is because all he does is smoke pot and read conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, his fiancee Karen (Hutchinson) is ovulating. Then Warren becomes convinced that he's been infected with some kind of psychotic insight after an encounter with a doomsday vagrant (DeCegli). Suddenly hyper-aware of strange things going on around him, he gets his best pal Balance (Miller) to help him document the end of the world, while Karen plans the wedding.

A sardonic omniscient narrator explains everything that happens, making the events feel banal even when things begin turning madly surreal. The chatty, existential dialog makes the film feel like an aimless Woody Allen movie for stoners. At other times it explodes into a trippy musical collage. In fact, the tone and style of the film shift continually, as Warren drifts in and out of lucidity. And when he's sober, it finds some startling emotional resonance.

Performances are natural, in an improvised reality-TV sort of way: random interaction, the odd hilarious gag and a string of witty A-list one-scene performances. Fogler struggles to make this pothead likeable as he becomes convinced he's a messenger of the gods, some sort of spirit warrior. He understands that his improbably hot fiancee is the only part of his life that makes any sense, but finds it impossible to focus. So it's not easy to like him or travel with him on this unhinged odyssey, whether he's a nutcase or a prophet.

That said, there are some intriguing themes raised by Warren's panic about settling down and starting a family. Everyone sometimes feels like the world is teetering on the brink of chaos, anarchy and global wars, and that it's impossible to change the collective consciousness. But is it really? The filmmakers' confident, audacious approach makes us wonder.

themes, language, sexuality, drugs

13.May.14