'The World's End'

"The World's End" seems a lot like director Edgar Wright's attempt to repeat the success of his 2004 cult hit "Shaun of the Dead." Where "Shaun" was basically a comfortably numb stoner dropped into a very British version of "Night of the Living Dead," "The World's End" stars an immature alcoholic dropped into a Hertfordshire "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

Simon Pegg (from "Shaun") plays a 40-something loser who's never grown up and enlists four rather reluctant old friends (Nick Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman and Eddie Marsan) to join him on a 12-pint pub crawl that they were unable to finish as youths. Cue much "Hangover"-style drunken debauchery, a nostalgic soundtrack, a few life lessons — and an alien-invasion subplot. The film suffers due to Pegg's wearying, laddish performance, which comes off as simply obnoxious: Imagine Jim Carrey at his most manic, throwing his arms out wide as if appealing directly to the audience for a laugh. Sorry, but no.

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