I'm just going to start with this: I did not like this movie. I can understand why some people would love it. So, it really just comes down to the individual. Objectively well made, just not for me.
Moving on: it's not a spoiler to mention that a major part of the story is the concept of a "younger self" in _How it Ends_. What is that? Well, it's literally a younger version of our lead character (Liza), who follows her around and acts as a sort of Jiminy Cricket; not too weird, huh? Well, it wouldn't be, but turns out other people have this too, and they're commonly invisible to everyone else, but since the world is ending, they can be seen. Does this have anything to do with the plot? No! It's just here for exposition and moving the story forward.
The next issue I had is that there's no real story here, it's just Liza walking around talking to people, which made this feel more like sketches rather than an actual movie... or even worse, a long therapy session.
Next: I hate the annoying Gen-Z-esque humor going on here, which is beyond bizarre since Zoe Lister-Jones is my age! In fact, almost everyone in the movie is in their 40s if not older. It's difficult to articulate, but the movie just comes across as made for/by spoiled children of rich parents.
Connected to this, what I was interpreting as Gen Z is actually more like annoying Californians. This is even more confusing: am I supposed to find this funny in an oh-isn't-this-so-kooky Portlandia way or is the movie's entire world the butt of the joke? Either way, I don't like it.
Finally: I was super offended by the objectification of a male character (Sal). He is shown, in a gross moment of the female gaze, in only a Speedo, including a close-up shot of his bulge. I'm obviously joking. I never get offended by anything. I just thought it was the perfect inverse of what third-wave feminists are always complaining about. I just don't see how noticing or enjoying a part of a human's body makes them an object... that is to say, no longer a human. People are dumb.
Too bad the planet isn't really about to be struck by a meteor. I wanna see the ground give way. I wanna watch it all go down.

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After a day with the emotionally overwhelming CODA, a disappointing Human Factors, and a divisive Cryptozoo, I was incredibly excited to end my day with a light, straightforward, funny little take on a silly yet intriguing premise. I got exactly what I was hoping for. A harmless series of entertaining interactions and interesting soul-searching moments featuring the two versions of the main character. Despite its repetitiveness and formulaic structure, I was never uninvested in the story due to the short runtime and mainly because of the two central, phenomenal performances.

Zoe Lister-Jones and Cailee Spaeny are brilliant together, forming an aura of pure enjoyment and putting a smile on every viewers’ face. Their whimsical chemistry elevates the entire film, but it’s not just fun and laugher. Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein dive deep into the essence of Liza through heartfelt conversations and heavy debates about so many things that everyone regrets doing in their own lives but never think of making amends. From forgiving family and friends’ mistakes to accepting our own missteps and flaws, addressing unresolved personal issues on the last day on Earth should not be something people need to do, but something that should have already been done way before this final day.

Shot during the pandemic, watching a whole movie filmed in exteriors sort of works like a breath of fresh air. Some people might dislike the dozens of celebrity cameos that contribute to sketch after sketch, but I defend that these scenes always serve a certain purpose, developing the protagonist a bit more across each of these sequences. As I wrote above, the cyclic nature of the film drags down some portions of its portions, especially the never-ending wandering around, which becomes a tad boring. Shoutout to Ryan Miller’s score, though. It’s one of the most entertaining aspects of the whole thing.

How It Ends is an inoffensive, light, entertaining character-study that ultimately accomplishes its goal of being a fun introspection on the protagonist’s life. With the use of a generic plot device, Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones create a simple yet repetitive narrative featuring dozens of famous cameos in a non-stop sequence of walking in the middle of an empty street until a new character shows up to offer yet another funny moment. Nevertheless, it contains more heart and soul than what’s at the surface. Lister-Jones and Cailee Spaeny carry and elevate the entire movie on their shoulders, delivering two impressive performances that I just couldn’t take my eyes off. Despite the obvious tendency to be just an amusing, innocent film, the main character is someone everyone can relate to, which definitely makes the movie much more compelling. Doing something that people regret later is an inevitability of life, but making amends with it shouldn’t be left to an extreme chance or to the very last moment when everything is about to end… and this is a message I can get behind.

Rating: B-

The quirky apocalypse comedy “How It Ends” is a witty and strangely optimistic story about a woman (Zoe Lister-Jones) who sets out to make peace with her past regrets and tie up loose ends on the very day a giant asteroid is scheduled to wipe out Earth. It’s an uplifting tale of learning to love yourself, even if it’s your last day in existence.

Liza (Lister-Jones) has been invited to an end of the world party, the final gathering with her friends before it’s all over. Before she can get in the zone, Liza decides she must make peace with everyone whom she has wrong or has caused her stress in her life so she can go out with a bang. Accompanied by the metaphysical version of her younger self (Cailee Spaeny), the two Lizas head out to complete the quest. There’s just a tiny little problem: her car has been stolen, so the pair must set off on foot.

The film has a brisk pacing that constantly introduces new characters, highlighting the strangers they encounter while walking around Los Angeles. There’s a great list of cameos that reads like a who’s who of indie L.A. artists (including Nick Kroll, Charlie Day, Whitney Cummings, Bobby Lee, Lamorne Morris, Fred Armisen, and Rob Huebel), and it’s a joy to see them riffing on everything from recyclables to massive drug consumption.

There’s an offbeat sensibility to the storytelling, like the matter of fact acceptance that there’s a huge asteroid hurting towards Earth (and which we see in the background during their jaunt around town), and the idea that one person would know so many random people in L.A.

The film has an eccentric, Miranda July type vibe that won’t appeal to everyone, but the sweetly unconventional “How It Ends” enchanted me with its kooky charms.

I was in a self-reflective, introspective kind of mood going into this movie. I was thinking about my failures as a father and how I might learn and grow and be better moving forward. I decide to watch a movie. This one says it's a comedy; I could do with some of that. And a comedy this is, yet it is so much more. This movie moved me and spoke to me in a way that hasn't happened it a long while. This movie made me smile; it made me laugh; it made me cringe; and it made me cry. I don't know what it says about me that I related so much to the main character Liza other than perhaps I've lost myself as well in depression and self isolation wanting more and feeling I could be so much more, but ultimately convincing myself that I am destined to be unloved and die alone.
This is Liza. A woman in her late 30s who has lived most of her adult life with a form of mental illness. Whether this derives from a chemical imbalance in the brain, or a series of events from her childhood, we don't know, though there is a clue when we meet her mother. Liza has had a few relationships but has resigned herself to being unloved and alone. Today, though, is a special day for Liza, for everyone really, the end of the world is tonight. The movie proceeds to follow Liza traipsing through LA showing some lovely LA views while she has many bizarre, humorous, and sometimes moving encounters on her quest to deal with her many regrets before the end.
Most of the encounters along Liza's journey are either very comical or very moving save for the one with Sal Benedetti (Liza first kiss) which has Sal in nothing but a speedo and there's a low key joke about "dipping in". There are quirky things like a woman riding a bike in a bikini, not by pedaling, but by pushing with her feet on the ground. Later there is a woman rolling down the street in a plastic bubble.
There is a conspicuous absence of traffic and people moving around in general. This seems to indicate that traffic only exists from people doing all the things they otherwise wouldn't do if it was the end of the world.
Overall this is a very entertaining movie that is both funny and at times touching and for me was a very welcome departure from main stream cinema.

A refreshingly sincere movie in an age of reflexive cynicism. How it Ends is short, sweet, and while it isn't philosophically ground-breaking, it does function well as a perspective re-adjustment. I believe the movie achieved exactly what it set out to do.