Overall a dull love story but Steve Carrell's always-excellent acting, Keira Knightley's charm and a believably fraught finale carried it up a level to a very respectable romance flick score.

A most enjoyable, moving, amusing, well characterised & acted movie. The talent of Lorene Scafaria deserves wider recognition. Thoroughly enjoyable !!

The beauty of a movie like "Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World" is that it can go in so many different directions. It could be a high drama, a comedy, an adventure romp, or any number of different scenarios. What is required, however, is a little bit of focus to make sure that the right area (or blend of areas) is present in order to make sure that the characters and setting do not get "lost in the shuffle". Unfortunately, "Seeking" lacks such focus.For a basic plot summary, this movie is set in a future American where the world is going to inevitably be destroyed by a very large meteor. After being dumped by his wife after hearing the news, Dodge (Steve Carell) is lost in life and decides to go visit his "first love" that got away. Before he can do so, however, he meets Penny (Keira Knightley), who throws a major kink (for better or worse) in his plans as the clock continues ticking towards doomsday.While "Seeking" has great potential to be a solid film, it ends up failing because of its complete lack of focus. Director Lorene Scafaria doesn't seem to know what kind of movie she wants to make here, and as a result any potential "good stuff" is lost in the shuffle. For example...-The "elephant in the room" (the end of the world) isn't taken all that seriously and works better as a comedic bit than anything substantial in terms of drama. -It could work as a comedy, but Carell is given such conflicting material that his character comes off as a mix of boorish and pathetic (e.g. nothing all that funny). -The movie could have even worked strictly as a character drama, if not for the total unbelievability of the Carell/Knightley pairing and the fact that the first half (if not two-thirds) of the picture fritters away any chance of meaningful character development.Basically, "Seeking" is the kind of movie you get when you try to be too "artsy" and don't solidify your focus. The casting choice of Knightley (queen of the "artsy" movies) only solidifies this line of thinking. If you are looking for anything near Carell's earlier "Crazy Stupid Love" in terms of a mesh of comedy/drama/emotion, you won't find it here.

An asteroid is about to destroy the Earth and humanity as a whole only has three weeks left. Put yourself in those shoes and imagine what you'd do with your few days left. Some would resort to trying all those vices they have previously avoided for being too damaging, amoral or probably both. Some would pull in, treasuring their remaining moments with their loved ones. And some would still go to work, pay their bills and pretend like nothing is happening.One such soul is Dodge (Steve Carell), whose wife promptly abandoned him as soon as the news hit the world and whose friends are constantly trying to entice him into trying drugs or having sex with their other friends. But Dodge simply wants to be left alone and live out the rest of his days with dignity. Then he finds a girl (Keira Knightley) sobbing outside his window.This movie is at its heart of a love story. Two lost souls find each other in the midst of turmoil. But it's the outlandish nature of that turmoil that give this movie its purpose and character. The end of the world paints the whole situation in an unique colour and provides many situations you'd never expect to see in a romcom. And it provokes you into thinking what you'd do in a situation where you only had three weeks to live. Sure, that happens to people everyday with diseases and such, but what if everyone else was on the same boat as well. That changes things and the movie does a credible job of exploring the different possibilities, while still remaining light-hearted enough at its core.I liked this film. The script is clever and witty, the main pair of actors pull off the characters beautifully and it's just an enjoyable experience overall. Recommended for all moviegoers equally.