MOVIE SYNOPSIS
In this doomsday comedy, four couples who meet for Sunday brunch find themselves stranded in a house together as the world may be about to end. When Tracy Scott (Julia Stiles) decides to introduce her new beau Glenn (David Cross) to her three friends Hedy (America Ferrera), Emma (Erin Hayes), and Lexi (Rachel Boston) and their significant others, her biggest fear is whether or not her friends will approve of her new relationship, little does she realize that’s the least of her worries. Before long the couples find themselves in the midst of an apocalyptic disaster, catching them all off guard. One thing is clear; these four couples aren’t going to let the potential end of the world get in the way of the relationship issues they all need to work out. (source: themovieinsider.com)
Civilisation is a fragile construct.
Though it may look hardy and enduring with its grand buildings, laws of the land, conventions and rituals, and yes the much-revered and almost equally-feared institution of brunch, all you have to do is throw in a zombie apocalypse, alien invasion or the possible end of the Mayan calendar, and all hell breaks loose.
And with it civilisation comes a-tumblin’ down, taking all our precious assumptions about how life should operate with it.
That’s the situation that this long time group of friends, who have arranged a brunch date to meet one of their party’s new boyfriend, find themselves in when the world does indeed end and without so much as an iPhone calendar notification or an invitation to mark its arrival.
So the group is caught unawares while the world goes to hell in a (picnic) basket around them.
Of course this group isn’t going to let a small thing like the apocalyptic end of the world dampen their social get together – largely because they remain blissfully unaware of it, consumed by their very own emotional apocalypse inside the four walls of the house that becomes their sanctuary … and therapy den.
Here’s what thehollywoodreporter.com had to say about the movie back in June 2012:
“Berger and his cast navigate the shift with confidence and finely drawn portrayals — the exception being Ferrara, who plays Hedy’s freakout too broadly. The script excels at character-driven laughs, cerebral yet goofy, without resorting to sitcom stereotypes or genitalia-focused stupidity. Reactions to the partially explained toxic disaster range from oblivious to primed for the breakdown of civil society. But through it all the characters talk like real people, even — or especially — as they self-consciously channel disaster-movie clichés.
“The bright and cheery production design is a fine counterpoint to the story’s pivotal cloud of doom. The movie makes the most of its single location, thanks to the fluent camerawork of accomplished cinematographer Nancy Schreiber. Musical selections, from Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata to a glockenspiel-centric version of “House of the Rising Sun,” are the perfect accompaniment to the characters’ doomsday dilemma.”
Quite apart from the stellar cast, and the A-grade production team, I am particularly excited about the fact that like Signs, which drew the overwhelming magnitude of an alien invasion down to the far more intimate and claustrophobic experience of one family trying to survive in an isolated farmhouse, It’s a Disaster distills the apocalypse down to its essence – how would one small group of people react to this life-changing event?
And would it bode well for humanity’s future or not?
While we may only get one group of friends answer to that question, it should prove illuminating and instructive … and if preliminary reviews are any indication, hilarious to boot.
Bring on the end of the world … just make sure the Eggs Benedict are just so.
*The film originally released in June 2012 in USA but returned early April for another showing at the RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC.
No release date has been confirmed for Australia at this time.