Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Rapture-Palooza Blu-ray Movie Review

Apocalypse Soon.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 16, 2013

As a denizen of the Pacific Northwest, a region of the United States that regularly tops polls by residents claiming to be “spiritual but not religious”, I can attest that if and/or when the Rapture comes (depending on your personal level of belief), the rainy climes as well as the personal predilections of the inhabitants of Oregon and Washington are probably going to make both the disappearance of the righteous as well as the appearance of the Antichrist harder to see. The slacker ethos that permeates this part of the country (when I moved to Portland years ago as an earnest 20 year old, one of the first things a neighbor told me was how easy it was to “coast” here, and he wasn’t referencing our nearness to the Pacific) is generally on display throughout Rapture-Palooza, rather improbably one of two apocalyptic comedies starring Craig Robinson that appeared in 2013. This Is the End featured Robinson playing a self- deprecating version of himself while Rapture-Palooza has him cavorting around as The Beast, that much feared embodiment of pure evil, and so it’s perhaps understandable that the somehow innately lovable actor does better in the first film than this one. But the entire ambience of Rapture-Palooza reeks of filmmaking by the seat of one’s pants, with a script by erstwhile Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure scribe Chris Matheson that has seemingly been shunted aside in favor of improvisational quips by a coterie of accomplished comedians who appear in the film. The result is admittedly fitfully funny in dribs and drabs, but there’s also a haphazard quality to much of Rapture-Palooza that suggests that perhaps a bit more rigor and structure could have helped this depiction of the ultimate in chaos theory.

I vacationed in London this summer and merely by chance ended up in Leicester Square the evening The World's End was having its world premiere at a theater there. By Hollywood fête standards, it was actually a fairly small scale gathering, with a barricade erected and huge television monitors hoisted above the marquee which showed everyone what was being broadcast across the United Kingdom. When one considers this Simon Pegg comedy and other apocalyptically themed films of virtually every stripe such as Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, it may well be that the world is ending, but this unusually popular subgenre has absolutely no signs of fading.

And that may in fact be what hobbles Rapture-Palooza beyond any inherent defects: there are simply so many similarly themed films glutting the market now that comparisons are bound to happen, which in this case leaves Rapture-Palooza almost always holding the short end of the stick. Anna Kendrick portrays Lindsey, the film’s heroine and narrator, the kind of ultra-arch but ultimately cool chick who isn’t thrown for that much a loop when the Rapture happens, and who of course still manages to be able to make snarky comments about it all. Lindsey and her boyfriend Ben (John Francis Daley) try to make the best of a bad situation, which includes things like having to battle biting locusts who scream “Suffer!” at their victims, huge rainstorms of blood (bloodstorms?) that make driving difficult, even huger meteors flying out of the sky and decimating various items (including Lindsey’s father), wraiths who smoke pot, and, worst of all, Earl (Craig Robinson), who is the Antichrist and prefers to be called The Beast (wouldn’t you if your name were Earl?).

When Lindsey and Ben’s dreams of opening a food cart are literally dashed by one of those careening meteors, they take the advice of Ben’s dad (Rob Corddry), who has gotten employment as one of The Beast’s henchmen, and accompany him to his workplace to beg for jobs themselves. Things take an unexpected turn when The Beast spies Lindsey and immediately takes a shine to her. And that’s before he finds out she’s a virgin. Once that piece of salient information is shared, The Beast informs Lindsey she has to marry him or else he will kill everyone she loves. What’s an ultra-arch but ultimately cool girl to do?

A desperate plan is hatched to capture The Beast for the requisite thousand years (Lindsey at least seems to have some foundation in Revelation), but of course just about everything that could go wrong, does. Rapture- Palooza is a film with a ton of really great ideas, but there’s such a haphazard quality to the execution of everything that very few punchlines actually land. The film is also hobbled by an over self-aware quality, with most of the actors almost resorting to actually winking at the camera, rather than suggesting a wink with their delivery. Buried in this film are a number of potentially funny bits—including Ana Gasteyer as Lindsey’s mother who is in fact “rapture-ized” only to be returned to Earth for having complained too much—but nothing is developed and too many bits just kind of lay there waiting to be raised from the dead. That kind of irony would never be lost on Lindsey.

Rapture-Palooza Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Rapture-Palooza is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This digitally shot feature has been pretty aggressively color graded in post to depict a washed out, dying Earth, but the good news is fine detail is comprised little if at all by these decision. While flesh tones are awfully anemic quite a bit of the time (and we're not even talking the zombie portrayed by Thomas Lennon), with backgrounds reduced to almost monochromatic slate gray and beige tones, the image itself is rather crisp, with some nice renderings of texture in the sets and costumes. The intentional color timing has some odd side effects at times, casting a kind of blue or violet pall over the proceedings that tends to work against strong contrast, but overall this is a nicely sharp and surprisingly well detailed looking high definition presentation.

Rapture-Palooza Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rapture-Palooza's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is rather well done, with some vigorous low end at several key moments (like the introduction of The Beast, set to a thumping rap beat). Immersion is well above average for this kind of comedy, with lots of nice panning effects as various plagues afflict the populace, and some more subtle foley effects added at certain moments (a late running gag of Lindsey repeatedly shooting The Beast with all manner of different guns has an assortment of bullet sounds accompanying her gunfire). Dialogue is cleanly presented, and Robinson's "crooning" as The Beast also comes through very well. Dynamic range is extremely wide for a comedy.

Rapture-Palooza Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• It's Good to Be the Beast (1080p; 8:06) is a tongue in cheek look at Craig Robinson. There is one inarguably hilarious bit in this piece that is funnier than anything in the movie. Just pay attention to Thomas Lennon berating whoever is watching this supplement. Now that's comedy.


• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 9:00)


• Gag Reel (1080p; 2:44)


• Audio Commentary with Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Rob Huebel. It would probably be a cheap shot to claim that this commentary is funnier than the actual movie, but I'm prevented from even taking that shot for two reasons: 1) the comedic bar is already so low due to the film's lack of laughs, it's not a fair comparison to begin with; and 2) the commentary isn't very funny, either.

Rapture-Palooza Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Rapture-Palooza reminded me of a lot of younger stand up comedians I've seen who seem to think that merely dropping a string of f-bombs magically creates humor. Part of this sensibility may in fact be due to the fact that quite a few of the cast members are ( or at least were) younger stand up comedians at one point, and the film's director Paul Middleditch seems to have been content to have just let them all loose to do what they willed, with little thought of cohesion or consistency. What ends up happening, then, are scattered bits that are at least amusing if not laugh out loud funny, interspersed with long, draggy moments where you have a bunch of manic comics mugging in overdrive to try to make something happen. Where's a careening meteor when you really need one?