The World's End (5 Stars)

After watching "Christopher Robin" yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to watch another film about not growing up. Whereas "Christopher Robin" is about never being too old to dream, "The World's End" is about never being too old to go wild and have a good time.

Gary King (Simon Pegg) grew up in the sleepy little town of Newton Haven. When he was 18 he went on a pub crawl with his four best friends. The intention was to drink a pint of beer in each of the town's 12 pubs, from the First Post to the World's End. (Click here for a gallery of the pub signs in order). The boys never finished. By the ninth pub they were too drunk to continue, but Gary considered it the best day of his life.

School was over, and Newton Haven isn't a place people stay if they don't have to. They moved away. They moved on.

Peter Page (Eddie Marsan) has become a self-employed car salesman.

Steven Prince (Paddy Considine) owns a building company.

Oliver Chamberlain (Martin Freeman) is an estate agent.

Andrew Knight (Nick Frost) is a corporate lawyer.

The other four have successful careers, but what about Gary? We're never told what he's done with his life for the last 20 years, but the suggestion is that it's nothing. Even if it was something, Gary's life has amounted to nothing. After 20 years he's still the same person he was when he left Newton Haven. He drives the same car, he listens to the same cassette tape (made for him by Steven), and he still wears a black leather jacket and a Sisters of Mercy T-shirt.

Gary King looks cool while the others look boring. They've adapted to society as they've grown older. Gary is still 18 in his heart.

More than anything else, Gary wants to regain the magic of his youth. He wants to repeat the legendary pub crawl, but this time he wants to succeed. His former friends are reluctant to relive this day, but he persuades them. After all, he's the King, while the others are only the Prince, the Chamberlain, the Knight and the Page. Gary has a charismatic power that the four businessmen don't.

It's not just charisma. Gary has a strength of character that the others lack. When they discover that Newton Haven is the site of an alien invasion, Gary is the only one who can save the world. However, that's only his second priority. The most important thing for Gary is to finish the pub crawl.

I can relate to Gary, to a certain extent. As a teenager I didn't live a life as wild as his, but I certainly lived an eccentric life. I promised I would never let myself grow old. I kept my promise for a few years. Then I got married, and it was hard to stay a teenager at heart when I had a wife and children. Like the four friends, I became a businessman. I advanced in my career and became the development leader of a small electronics company, responsible for 30 employees. Then things fell apart. First my marriage broke down, then my career, then my health. I considered it a tragedy at first, but then I came to my senses. Was it all such a bad thing? I needed to be knocked down to remind me that I'd broken the promise to myself. I'd let myself grow old, but it was now time to return to my youth. Not 18, I like to think of myself as a 16-year-old, or even younger. When I was 14 I had a naive attitude that I wish I'd never lost.

It's not about drinking. When I was young I drank a lot less alcohol that I did in my 30's. I drank almost no alcohol at all until I left university, although I did have a weird experience when I was 18. I was on holiday in Neuengeseke, Germany with my sister Shirley. In the afternoon we went to a Schützenfest (just a beer tent, a typical German excuse for drinking). I drank seven beers, only 300 ml glasses, but that was still a lot for me. Later in the evening we went to a smaller party. My friend Ulrich Goltsche challenged me to a drinking contest. Which one of us could drink the most shots? I accepted the challenge. We were drinking shots of potent German schnapps. The drinks kept on coming. Everyone was cheering when I downed each glass. After 18 glasses I saw Shirley arguing and punching people. I asked what was wrong. She told me that the drinking contest was a fake. They just wanted to get me drunk. I was drinking schnapps, but Ulrich was only drinking water. Ulrich admitted it was true. I was annoyed. I drank the 19th glass that had already been set in front of me, and I began to run. The others tried to catch me, but I was too fast. I ran and I ran. I hardly knew the area, but there were street signs. It was almost pitch black, so I had to stare closely at the signs and feel them to make out what they said. It was at least two miles, but miraculously I found my way back to the house in Neuengeseke.

I don't know how I did it. I was intoxicated, but I wasn't too drunk to get home. I've never drunk so much in one day since then. When I was in my 30's I sometimes drank two liters of wine, but never 19 shots. I stopped drinking while I was in America, and when I started drinking again a few years later my tolerance to alcohol had lessened. I can't drink that much now. Half a liter of wine is comfortable, and one liter is my limit. I'm not the drinker I used to be.

Not that I really want to be a big drinker. I don't drink often nowadays, and when I do drink it's to lessen my inhibitions and reach a golden moment when everything in the world makes sense. If I can reach this point without spending a lot of money I'm happy.

Unlike Gary, I've never saved the world. Not yet, anyway.

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