It’s official. We have 21 days to make contact with loved ones, finalise our affairs, come to peace with ourselves and others. A meteor is moving at fast pace towards Earth and will inevitably end us all.
What to do?
For many it’s all the things we never were brave – or stupid – enough to do. Drugs. Sex. Pure indulgence of the most selfish kind. All the things you looked at others doing but never did. Or maybe a little Purge style bloodletting? Topping the nasty old boss would be satisfying, and a life sentence is 21, 20, 19 days…
Not a fan of Big Decisions? At least visit the family and friends. Mend some bridges. Close off some relationships in soul warming ways. End things with an earned sense of self satisfaction. You did all you could.
Dodge (Steve Carrel) continues to go to work. It seems logical enough. His wife ran out on him literally the moment the disastrous news went public, and his family and friends don’t have him as a high priority in these circumstances. Some half heartedly try to fix him up with a new woman so that the last couple weeks aren’t lonely, which puts a new spin on ‘speed dating’, but Dodge doesn’t want a quick fix.
With no time to get to truly know someone new, Dodge receives a message from someone in his past. He decides to drop everything and stop in on someone he once knew but grew apart from. Former neighbour and similarly alone Penny (Keira Knightley) goes along for the ride in the hope of finding someone who can take her to her own family.
Despite the sombre subject matter this is likely the breeziest tale of the coming apocalypse you could imagine. In between assisted suicides, the impromptu orgies and the violence borne of desperation, are some tender moments and genuinely heartfelt actions and conversations. The chemistry between Carrel and Knightley is obvious despite the age gap, providing the film with more emotion and warmth than you would anticipate in a road trip movie doomed to an unavoidable dead end.
Final Rating – 7 / 10. Another quality low budget sci-fi flick, this one where the prospect of a doomed romance means something a little different.
