Daryl Wein

(On Cable TV, March 2022) I’ve seen quite a few movies about how it ends lately, and they’ve been of very variable quality. Australian 2013 drama These Final Hours is terrific; American 2018 thriller How It Ends was terrible; American 2021 comedy Don’t Look Up managed some poignant moments; and I could go on… But the film at hand here is the American 2021 comedy How It Ends, and while it’s an entry in the sub-genre that distinguishes itself through its quirks, that doesn’t necessarily make it all that satisfying. Real-Life couple Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein produced, wrote, directed, edited, photographed and starred in the film in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, which does much to explain its odd disconnected feeling: Even beyond its primary premise (a young woman seeking to make amends on the last day before an asteroid strikes earth), or its secondary premise (younger versions of many characters are literally present), the script goes from one episode to another in Los Angeles’ deserted streets, and their encounters are filmed at a distance. It struck me, not too far into the film, that there was a distinct lack of hugging throughout the various encounters (I’m far from a touchy-feely kind of person, but I would be hugging everyone and anyone on the last day of humanity). Here, people stare at each other from their social distancing bubble and leave with scarcely more than a wave goodbye. All of this reinforces the unreality of the film, which does not contribute to its success. While the film wants to be funny and poignant, it just ends up being pedestrian (in a very literal way, but also in the bland way it’s photographed and directed) and leaves most of its potential on the table, unused and abandoned. Having younger versions of the protagonist and a few other characters being present for dialogue feels like an intriguing idea that doesn’t have anywhere to go, and having a few known names in supporting roles (Helen Hunt, Colin Hanks, Charlie Day, Fred Armsen, Olivia Wilde, Finn Wolfhard, Whitney Cumings, etc.—although I’ll watch Tawny Newsome in anything) feels like friends making favours within the Thirty-Miles Zone more than purposeful casting. I’m open to the idea that the film’s gentle, off-beat humour is incompatible with mine, but that doesn’t do much to excuse the film’s more substantial problems at the script level or a cheap, disappointing execution. It feels like the kind of project a few friends put together out of boredom during the pandemic, and while that’s not a bad thing, I would have liked to see something better come out of it. As it stands, How it Ends is a disappointing entry in the last-day-on-Earth subgenre, distinctive but not in a good way, and limited in its emotional impact despite ample opportunities to do better.