The World’s End

Directed by Edgar Wright

(R)

****

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From England, a small comedy has just arrived that is “by light-years the most entertaining movie of the year,” said David Edelstein in New York magazine. I can’t in good conscience tell you what twists await five old pals when they undertake a pub crawl that they failed to complete 20 years earlier, but I can tell you that Edgar Wright’s latest genre spoof becomes an apocalyptic sci-fi extravaganza that will “leave you feeling as if the world is just beginning.” Simon Pegg leads the “superb” cast, playing a one-time party king who’s refused to grow up or stop drinking, said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. But in a film that manages to be both “a powerful parable about addiction,” and “a rollicking action comedy,” Pegg’s antic alcoholic can’t hit rock bottom until—spoiler alert—his buddies find themselves doing battle with alien robots that bleed bright-blue blood. The team that previously gave us Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz has once again produced a silly romp that’s also a smart social satire and a work of “exemplary craftsmanship,” said Andrew O’Hehir in Salon.com. “Seriously, what’s not to like?”