Today's Movie: The End (1978)

This one was recommended to me recently so I decided to go ahead and check it out.

In this 1978 comedy Burt Reynolds plays Sonny Lawson, a man with a fatal blood disease who is told that he has less than a year to live. He's so distraught by the diagnosis, and not wanting to suffer a slow painful death, that he decides to commit suicide. After a mixture of sleeping pills and alcohol fails to do the trick, Sonny wakes up in a mental hospital where he meets a loyal, schizophrenic named Marlon (played by Dom DeLuise) who happily vows to help his new friend kill himself. After several failed attempts, including not being able to find a tall enough building at the hospital to jump off and chickening out of hanging himself because it hurts too much, he decides to escape. Once he's out, Sonny heads for the ocean determined to drown himself. However, while he's under water he starts thinking about his daughter and, in the end, he decides that he wants to live.

Right from the opening scene, this movie provides some really funny moments and I found myself laughing out loud throughout. It has a fun blend of dark-comedy and slapstick, and the dynamic between Reynolds and DeLuise works pretty well. Overall, I definitely wouldn't call it a great movie but it is entertaining and I'm glad I took the time to watch it.

I give this one a 3 out of 5.

Have a suggestion for a review?
Leave it in the comments below.