Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Lorene Scafaria’s first film as director takes its title from a line in Chris Cornell’s song Preaching the End of the World, on his 1999 album Euphoria Mourning. She had written Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and says the idea came from asking what is left once forever is taken off the table. The film opens with the rescue already failed: the mission to stop the asteroid, named Matilda, has not worked. That turns the remaining three weeks into a list of things to close rather than a problem to solve: an emptied insurance office, years of misdelivered mail, a high school girlfriend to find. It was the first picture Steve Carell shot after his seven years on The Office ended. The wife who walks out on him is played by his own wife, and that scene was filmed on their 17th wedding anniversary, which the crew marked on set. The budget was 10 million dollars and the worldwide gross stopped at 9.6 million. Audiences leaving cinemas graded it C+ for CinemaScore. A good fit if you want the apocalypse handled as errands and goodbyes, the register sliding from comedy into quiet. Not for you if you are waiting to see whether the asteroid can be stopped; the film shuts that door in its first scene.