Years from now, when the dust has settled on the multiplex offerings of summer 2013 — and I have a feeling we’re talking quite a lot of dust here — people will still be confusing “The World’s End” with “This is the End,” and vice versa. (In fact, the passage of time will only render the distinction fuzzier.) Perhaps they’ll be put together in a box-set, so people will have their bases covered. Anyway, both are casually structured apocalyptic comedies, both have boisterous, largely male ensembles, and both are reasonably amusing. It’s the British one, however, that has won the critical war.
Edgar Wright’s “The World’s End” has, if anything, been even more warmly received by US critics than their UK counterparts, matching the reviews of its Cornetto Trilogy predecessors, “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.” (HitFix’s Drew McWeeny was certainly tickled by it.) It opens Stateside today, while many of our international readers will have already seen it, so vote in the poll below, and share your thoughts in the comments. Is it the comedy of the summer, as many critics are claiming? (I say no, but my love for “The Heat” is unyielding.) And between Wright’s film and “This is the End,” who won the end of the world?