No, they really don't feel fine. Not at all: "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World"

Why yes, the missus *did* rent this on Dec. 20, the night before the alleged apocalypse. She's a zany one. Even better, I quite enjoyed this movie. If it *had* been the last one I saw before the end, it could have been worse. (Consider the movie she rented before this one, "Hope Springs." Since I may not be able to bring myself to blog about that one, let me just say I would have been fine never watching Meryl Streep go down on Tommy Lee Jones in a movie theater. As Max California said, "There are some things that you see, and you can't unsee them.")

With "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," I'm going to use a word I generally dislike: interesting. This movie was just interesting. The premise is easy enough: A giant meteor/comet/asteroid/something is about to hit the earth after a mission to destroy it fails. Yup ... imagine if those guys in "Armageddon" came up short. When there's no hope, how do people react?

Despite the basic premise, there's no sci-fi or action here. John Cusack does NOT fly through a collapsing city. Instead, it's the social side of the equation. What would you do with those last days? Where would you go? If you're like me and you've read the above, you're right to worry that this could be either too gabby or a bunch of people staring at each other -- both unbearable possibilities. Fortunately, we get a couple of winning leads who each deliver one of his/her better performances.

Steve Carell is an insurance guy somewhat in denial after his wife up and leaves him. After entertaining run-ins with characters played by funny/reliable actors (Patton Oswalt, Connie Britton, Melanie Lynskey, Rob Corddry), he comes across his neighbor, an English hipster waif played by Keira Knightley. That leads to a revelation that turns the rest of the movie into a road trip, opening the door for other amusing run-ins. Not so much in a ha-ha way as a "yeah, that kind of makes sense given the world's about to end." Seriously ... gotta watch out for those T.G.I. Friday's employees.

I guess I'd say the story is fatalistic but with a measure of whimsy vs. dread, and helped by Carell and Knightley. Both are limited actors in different ways, but I found their characters and the budding relationship genuine. Carell can add this to "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Crazy, Stupid, Love" as his better turns outside straight comedy, and it's certainly above "Dan in Real Life." I can even excuse his character being named Dodge. What, Pontiac was taken?

As for Knightley ... I'm not sure she's ever been better. True, I've not seen much of her stuff; all that Victorian period piece stuff ain't for this guy. But of what I've seen, I liked her in this more than anything since "Bend It Like Beckham." And I'll take it 10 times over "Domino."

Our story does get a little thick at end, but on the whole I think it works. Great music, too -- nice mix of eras, and I especially liked this song and this song. While Carell's character rants at the start about the futility of meeting someone and getting to know her as the world is ending, that's the key here. Absolutely no way a husband and wife married of several years have this kind of journey -- physically and emotionally -- when the end is nigh. But these two people trying to help each other get what they want is ... what's that word again? Ah yes ... interesting.