The World's End
Focus Features | Release Date: August 23, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 45 Critic Reviews
Positive:
42
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Adam NaymanAug 22, 2013
The World’s End isn’t perfect – – but its best moments leave the bulk of recent American “event movies” gasping in the dust. Read full review
100
SlateDana StevensAug 22, 2013
The World’s End not only makes a more than worthy conclusion to the Cornetto trilogy — it stands on its own as one of the sharpest, saddest and wisest comedies of the year. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 20, 2013
What "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" did for zombie and cop flicks The World's End does for sci-fi fatalism, respecting its doomsday tropes while presenting them with cheeky wit and a refreshing strategy of sensory underload. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 20, 2013
The beauty of this movie, both a nostalgic romp and a futuristic scream, is its stubborn insistence on getting all the trapped-in-amber details right. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinAug 12, 2013
This is by light-years the most entertaining movie of the year. How many apocalyptic sci-fi action extravaganzas leave you feeling as if the world is just beginning? Read full review
100
Slant MagazineCalum MarshAug 11, 2013
An ordinary drama embellished and in some sense infringed on by genre elements rather than the other way around. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 21, 2013
Easily one of the year’s best comedies, the movie thrives off the chemistry between its leads, with Pegg painting a very funny portrait of emotional paralysis and Frost demonstrating a heretofore unseen talent for intimidation. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirAug 22, 2013
Indeed, while the action-packed final act of The World’s End gets pretty formulaic (as it channels everything from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” to “The Stepford Wives”), there’s ALMOST something serious at the core of this riotous comedy. Read full review
90
The DissolveMatt SingerAug 21, 2013
As in all of Wright’s films, the surface is just as satisfying as the subtext: hilarious comedy, compelling character drama, eye-popping visuals, and a juicy science-fiction story. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzAug 23, 2013
Wright is a brilliant director of turbocharged exposition, elegant but bruising action sequences, and graphically bold comedic overkill. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 23, 2013
It'll knock you on you ass from laughing when you're not rubbing your eyes in disbelief. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 22, 2013
The cast is amazing, from the great duo of Frost and Pegg to the supporting players, many of whom are better known for taking on heavy dramatic fare. The editing, special effects and set design — a joy to experience. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsAug 22, 2013
The movie is madly, wonderfully at odds with itself. Read full review
87
Film.comWilliam GossJul 21, 2013
A knowing take on movies and maturity alike, The World’s End is just as thoroughly thoughtful as those which came before it, and maybe more than ever, you’ll find yourself laughing to keep from crying. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyAug 21, 2013
As in their previous comedies, Pegg and Frost play men who refuse to stop acting like boys. But these pint-swilling Peter Pans also know how to work the heart and the brain for belly laughs. Read full review
80
NPRBob MondelloAug 24, 2013
There is something weird about the twins, something that will fuel a bar room brawl until it goes quite literally global, that will let director Wright take a leap into another genre entirely and that will allow The World's End to spin into ever grander comic mayhem, even as it becomes a surprisingly effecting look at the folly of trying to recapture one's youth. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 22, 2013
The buzz of The World’s End is more like an antic sugar high than a reeling, drunken stupor. There are no headaches, dry mouth or crushing shame at the end — no “Hangover,” in other words. I’ll drink to that. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternAug 22, 2013
The World's End stands on its own as hilarious high-end nonsense. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanAug 22, 2013
Some inner logic may not hold up under the sober light of day, but this unusual action-comedy has the loosey-goosey feel of something that can’t miss, like a soused round of bar pool. The final triumph: In a summer full of capes and masks, beer-bellied Frost tears off his shirt à la the Hulk. It’s this season’s best superhero moment. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenAug 22, 2013
Audacious and witty, The World's End is a strange brew. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 21, 2013
A mix of comedy, science fiction, nostalgia, adolescent wish-fulfillment and beer, beer, beer, its parts shouldn’t fit together as neatly as they do. But somehow Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg have again managed to make a movie that is knowing, touching and hilarious. Read full review
80
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekAug 20, 2013
The World's End is a big, shaggy dog of a thing, a free-spirited ramble held together by off-kilter asides, clever-dumb puns, and seemingly random bits of dialogue that could almost become catchphrases in spite of themselves. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt MaytumJul 9, 2013
The armageddon-through-beer-goggles approach brings the chuckles, but The World’s End stands up as a great example of the genre it ribs. Nostalgic, bittersweet and very, very funny. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinJul 9, 2013
The World’s End is a fitting end to the trilogy: it is by turns trashy, poignant and gut-bustingly funny, and often all three at once. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerJul 9, 2013
While things get a tad buckled town in mayhem and special effects throughout the film’s busy final reels, Wright spends enough time sketching out his mischievous middle-aged men so that their journey...feels worthwhile and even meaningful for a few of them. Read full review
80
EmpireMark DinningJul 9, 2013
Bravely refusing to rigidly adhere to a formula that has been so successful, Wright, Pegg and Frost’s Cornetto Trilogy closer has tonal shifts you won’t expect, but the same beating heart you’ve been craving. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonJul 9, 2013
This is a tighter, smarter film than either Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, and buried beneath all the blue-goo aliens and terrible punning is a heartfelt meditation on the perils and pleasures of nostalgia. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesAug 28, 2013
The World’s End affectionately takes a page from our Fifties sci-fi films. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliAug 26, 2013
There's a lot of fun to be had in watching The World's End and, surprisingly, more thematic depth than one might expect. The humor, true to its British roots, may baffle some Americans but those who "get" it will laugh quite a bit. Read full review
75
Washington PostJen ChaneyAug 22, 2013
This movie’s pleasures are less about its villains and more about the interplay between Pegg and Frost. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanAug 22, 2013
When the movie is funny, it’s very funny. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsAug 22, 2013
Until the sci-fi switcheroo, the versatile supporting cast puts Gary in such a ridiculous light that we can’t help laughing at him. Then suddenly this subversive movie challenges us to laugh at our own assumptions. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleAug 22, 2013
The result is an original picture, not entirely successful, but successful enough, and delightful in its ability to surprise viewers, and juggle tones and keep every ball in the air. The World's End has the aura - and this might only be an attractive illusion - of something imagined whole, in a burst of inspiration, rather than as something labored over. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaAug 22, 2013
Smart, funny, and gross (often at the same time). Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezAug 22, 2013
The World’s End builds to an unexpectedly witty, funny climax that flies in the face of most films of its genre, and although its humor is not for all tastes, no one can say this crazy picture doesn’t have the guts to live up to its title. Read full review
75
ObserverDrew GrantAug 20, 2013
Despite a too-long third act, dragging action sequences and an epilogue that would have been better left on the cutting room floor, the wordy wit and ingenuity of The World’s End is a sloppy triumph over this summer’s other alien/robot hybrid flick, "Pacific Rim." Read full review
75
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 20, 2013
This is a movie that floats by on dazzlingly silly banter and well-slung slang. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJul 21, 2013
Despite its shortcomings, The World's End glistens with a comedic energy not present in equivalent mainstream blockbusters. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneAug 31, 2013
Nothing here is so well defined, and the tone of the film begins to suffer. I cannot imagine returning to it as one does to "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz," hungry for fresh minutiae. [2 Sept. 2013, p.80]
70
VarietyLeslie FelperinJul 9, 2013
A fraction less gut-bustingly goofy than its predecessors. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 23, 2013
The World’s End is more frantic than funny, but it’s still funny enough — just — to outweigh its own silliness. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 22, 2013
The premise of visiting so many pubs as a narrative device, however, bogs down the initially energetic pacing and goofiness. Piling on the mayhem renders The World's End a sometimes chaotic and uneven comedy. Read full review
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