The World's End (Edgar Wright, 2013)

What's it about? When the feckless Gary (Simon Pegg) restages a 20-year old pub crawl in his hometown in an attempt to recapture his lost youth, his old gang of friends (Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Eddie Marsan and Martin Freeman) reluctantly tag along for the ride. However, as they make their way along the route to the final pub, The World's End, they start to suspect something is a bit odd about the inhabitants of the town.

Is it any good? This is the third film in Wright and Pegg's Cornetto Trilogy, following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Ever bought a Cornetto recently? They're a lot less substantial than they used to be - also a sort of artificial flavour too, like something that's been manufactured, rather than lovingly created. And so it is with this film, which rather wastes similar ingredients from the previous two films. Whereas Shaun and Fuzz perfectly pastiched the zombie and buddy cop movie genres respectively, this struggles to similarly homage the small-town-alien-invasion flick, with little inspiration in how the plot plays out. Part of the problem seems to be that it also wants to be a kind of boozy-blokey-jokey caper, but it's not funny enough for that, so it clumsily ends up falling between two bar-stools in the process. That said, it's watchable enough and there's a couple of good moments, but it's a rather uneven affair overall and lacks the flair and creativity of its companions in the trilogy. It's okay in its own right, but if you had to choose just one Cornetto, this would be a long way behind the other two.

Anything else I should know? Viewers of a certain vintage will no doubt end up misty-eyed with nostalgia after hearing some great tunes on the soundtrack from the late 80s and early 90s, Here's an interview with Edgar Wright in which he discusses the reasons for choosing Suede, Blur, Primal Scream and, most memorably of all, The Soup Dragons.

What does the Fonz think? A six-pinter

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