An asteroid is on a crash course with Earth, giving Dodge (Steve Carell) and the rest of humanity about three weeks before the apocalypse—and for the first half hour or so, writer/director Lorene Scafaria injects Seeking a Friend for the End of the World with scathing, unrepentantly dark humor. Scafaria's time writing for Childrens Hospital is in full effect (along with very funny cameos by Patton Oswalt, Rob Corddry, Rob Huebel, and others) as Dodge's pathetic qualities are played for laughs: He continues to clock in for his soul-numbing insurance job; he still endeavors to go to the gym; his wife literally sprints away from him as soon as they learn the world is going to be destroyed. But then Dodge meets his wacky neighbor Penny (Keira Knightley), and everything turns into romantic glop. by Ned Lannamann