Being one of the funniest movies of the 2010s, This Is The End is a post-apocalyptic movie unlike any other, and it’s best known for its seemingly bottomless well of cameos.
With every movie star playing themselves in the movie, James Franco hosts a party at his newly built mansion and invites the usual suspects; Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, etc. The guest list goes on forever, making way for some ingenious jokes, but there are also great cameos throughout the film.
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Aziz Ansari
The best part about Aziz Ansari’s cameo is Craig Robinson refusing to help him when Ansari is one of the first to fall into the hole, just clinging on the edge. Robinson hilariously says, “it’s too late for you, you’re already in the hole” before running away. Ansari doesn’t really have any jokes and is seemingly just there to fill out the party with as many famous comedians as possible.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Mintz-Plasse’s appearance is another brief cameo, but it’s one of the best as he reunites with his Superbad costar Michael Cera, though it isn’t exactly a fun reunion for Plasse. Cera blows cocaine in Chris’ face, who then starts to freak out as he has never done drugs before, then tries to brush it off himself as Cera begins to sniff him.
Kevin Hart
Kevin Hart’s role in the movie is little more than someone for Jason Segel to bounce his dialogue off, as there’s not much else the movie star does during the party. However, he appears a few minutes later after the disaster begins and inadvertently ends up murdering Aziz Ansari, so some might say that he’s doing the lord’s work.
Rihanna
Rihanna’s scene is one of the best, and it’s surprisingly the most nuanced and least like a caricature of her real self. She acts very much as audiences would expect her to act, as she smacks Michael Cera after he comes onto her, reacts awkwardly to Jason Segal asking if she sees a therapist, and hilariously sings “Take Your Panties Off” with Craig Robinson.
Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling’s cameo is one of the briefest, but also one of the funniest, as she gawks at Michael Cera and explains how much she wants to have sex with him in the most explicit way. She goes on to idolize how he’s pale, 110 pounds, and hairless.
Her opinions aren’t exactly against type either, as she spent years in The Office ogling at Ryan, played by B.J. Novak, who was her real-life boyfriend for a long time.
Backstreet Boys
After Seth Rogen and Jay escape earth, they actually make it into heaven, and who else would perform music in heaven other than Backstreet Boys? It’s a totally random choice, but it’s a fun choice, and it’s a great cherry on top of a movie that was full of wonderful and ridiculous cameos. However, though there are many musicians who successfully transitioned into movies, Backstreet Boys’ cameo here doesn’t exactly count.
Jason Segel
There are a lot of things that don’t make sense about Jason Segel’s character in How I Met Your Mother, and he doesn’t hold back when making fun of the sitcom in the movie. When speaking with Kevin Hart, Segel explains the heartless comedy found in TV sitcoms and he hilariously speaks about it with such disdain, and he later depressingly asks Rihanna if she sees a psychiatrist.
Emma Watson
Though she wasn’t in it for very long, This Is The End is still one of her best movies that isn’t Harry Potter. Watson still has the most screentime of any other celebrity who isn’t a part of the main cast, as not only is she at the party, but she appears midway through the movie too.
When Watson is getting some rest at the Franco household, she overhears the group talking about protecting her, only she gets the wrong end of the stick and thinks they are trying to assault her.
Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd has a lot of underrated comedies, and This Is The End is one of them, if you can count his brief 20 second cameo as “his” movie. Rudd turns up to James Franco’s house party late carrying a novelty-sized bottle of champagne with a bow on it and is confused as to why everybody is standing outside. After the giant hole opens up in the ground and everybody is getting killed, he accidentally squashes a guest’s head, still carrying the champagne bottle.
Michael Cera
The best thing about Michael Cera’s cameo is that he acts most unlike himself out of any of his other movies, even though he’s literally playing himself. Like most of Michael Cera’s best movies, the actor doesn’t exactly have the widest range, as he plays his typical quirky and awkward self, but in This Is The End, the actor sniffs cocaine, has threesomes, and even comes on to Rihanna. He is also the first to get killed, as he’s impaled by a lamp post and continuously asks, “what’s happening to me?”
Channing Tatum
Channing Tatum’s appearance is the best cameo because it’s more of a surprise than any of the others. First of all, all of the cameos in the movie are from actors who share screen time in a ton of movies together, so none of them come off as surprising, unlike Tatum’s appearance. Secondly, his cameo comes in the third act when audiences think there are no more surprises left. And finally, being one of the few actors who successfully managed to transition into comedy acting, his cameo as Danny McBride’s gimp is nothing short of genius.