‘The World’s End’ is the third film in the so-called “Cornetto Ice Cream Trilogy” by Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. This one is just as much fun and even more action-packed than ‘Shaun of the Dead’ or ‘Hot Fuzz’. The beer-guzzling buddy movie garners gut-busting laughs from start to finish and features impressive fight choreography, amazing one-liners, and one hell of a group performance by the cast. Its B-movie homages and mid-life crisis themes are also done flawlessly. You’ll want to watch this over and over again.

Similar to ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’, ‘The World’s End’ seems to be two movies rolled into one. On the one hand, a group of former high school friends get together again twenty years after graduation to conquer the “Golden Mile,” a pub crawl that consists of drinking 12 pints of beer in 12 separate pubs – a feat they failed to achieve back in high-school. The group is led by Gary (Pegg), who was one able to charm anyone into free drinks or sex, but is now in group therapy. While Gary is eager to relive his high school glory days, his friends (Pegg, Frost, Martin Freeman, Eddie Marsan and Paddy Considine) are initially reluctant to join him, since they’ve all grown up and have families and jobs. One doesn’t even drink anymore.

Halfway through the film, things kick into a different gear when heads and limbs start to fly. During their crawl, the five buddies realize fairly quickly that their old hometown isn’t quite what it used to be. When Gary is attacked by a group of young men, an epic fight ends with the thugs spewing blue blood. Soon, the friends realize that the entire population of the town isn’t human anymore. As they run from glowy-eyed, murderous beings, Gary feels that their only hope for escape is to go from pub to pub, even having a drink at each one, which leads to an amazing climactic finale.

From start to finish, the film will have you either laughing your ass off at a brilliant line from Pegg or Frost, or sitting on the edge of your seat with the fast-paced suspenseful thrills that unfold before your eyes. The results will leave you in stitches. Pegg shines as Gary. He makes us laugh, but also has a sweet side, even if he comes across as an idiot. He means well and just wants to be with his friends one last time.

If you choose to see one film to end your summer, make it ‘The World’s End’ and have a pint to go with it. You’ll be glad you did.

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I had the distinct pleasure to sit down and talk with Edgar Wright, Nick Frost and Simon Pegg a while back about the film. Instead, we geeked out about movies, wrestling and all sorts of other cool things. They are huge movie fans and were so much fun to talk with. Enjoy the interview.