Cert 15
109 mins
BBFC advice: Contains very strong language and very strong sex references.
Simon Pegg is fast becoming Britain's answer to Seth Rogen. Both seem to consider the big screen as an opportunity for self-indulgence.
Last month, Rogen brought his Hollywood mates together for This Is The End - a 'comedy' about an alien invasion of Los Angeles.
This month, Pegg gathered his British pals together for The World's End - a 'comedy' about an alien invasion of ...Newton Haven.
In both instances drink and drugs are glorified and profanities are sprinkled around charmlessly and in both cases, the majority of gags miss by a mile.
Pegg made his name in the riotous Shaun Of the Dead. But that was nine years ago and the spark of originality has been long dimmed (for me, the awful Paul - another alien 'comedy' in which Rogen and Pegg both starred was the nadir).
To be fair to him, his performances in Star Trek prove that he can still act and be funny.
In World's End, his character, Gary King, is a huge irritant who somehow manages to persuade three of his upstanding mates (Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine) to recreate their youth with a 12-pub crawl around their former home town.
It is a fairly funless sojourn until Gary gets involved in a urinal fracas with a lad who, it transpires, is a blue-blooded alien.
In fact, he's not the only one in Newton Haven - the place is littered with them and the five amigos (or musketeers as Gary calls them) spend the rest of the film trying to fend them off.
The World's End is not totally without merit - I giggled thrice, Mrs W laughed out loud four times and other members of the Nottingham Cineworld crowd clearly had tickled ribs.
But its overall storyline was weak and it woefully underused the talents of the usually brilliant Marsan as well as Freeman, Considine and Rosamund Pike who plays the love interest.
It is directed by Edgar Wright who also teamed up with Pegg and Frost in Shaun Of the Dead. This is nowhere near as good and if they don't change their style, their next film will be even more limp.
Laughs: Three for me but a few more for others
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 4.5/10