A modest, cosmically funny movie that packs a heavy multilevel punch (8/10)
Directed by Lorene Scarfaria

First, let me tell you that if you’re a Keira Knightley fan solely because of her movie star glamour and celebrity, Seeking a Friend is not for you. I doubt we’ll ever see a more frumpy Keira than her role as Penny. At her real age of 27 the actress looks 10-15 years older… and plays a character who is old beyond her years. Plays it extremely well. Yet what Penny lacks in outer beauty she more than makes up for with inner substance. Oddly enough, the Steve Carell lost-soul character, Dodge—Carell in real life was 50 when this movie was made—, awakens Penny’s substance, her youthful romanticism. And she becomes the beauty we’re used to.

They are, indeed, a match made for the end of the world. The movie opens with:

“OK, what we’re getting now is, yes, they’re saying it was in fact a fire that erupted inside the external tank of the ship, exactly ninety-eight seconds after it entered the asteroid field. No one is sure what caused the fire which led to the massive explosion, killing all twelve crew members and scientists aboard the space shuttle Deliverance, taking with them our last and only hope. Once again, if you’re just tuning in, the CSA space shuttle Deliverance has been destroyed. The final mission to save mankind has failed. The seventy-mile-wide asteroid known commonly as Matilda is set to collide with Earth in exactly three weeks time, and we’ll be bringing you up-to-the-minute coverage of our countdown to the ‘End of Days’, along with ALL your classic rock favorites. This is Q107.2.” Continue reading →