September 17, 2008: Pineapple Express
Here’s another entry in the canon of prolific producer and sometime director Judd Apatow, the new filmmaking ambassador of the slacker nation. This one is directed by David Gordon Green, lending some real directing cred to this variation on the theme – modern-day toked-up slackers getting into some mischief but ultimately making the world a better place. I found the movie to be far better than its reviews, but certainly it’s not for all tastes, and it’s easy to see why the reviews were so widely mixed.
Is there some confusion about the genre for this film, or rather is it deliberately trying to blend genres in a unique way? I lean towards the latter. A good deal of the full-assed reviewing community couldn’t seem to come to terms with this being a loose slacker/stoner comedy about a heist gone wrong, but one which includes real and graphic violence. Normally a heist picture goes for the gritty realistic violence of the very real and very ugly shootouts which accompany this type of business in reality, or they keep things light and show some gunplay but none of the icky parts. This film revels in both, and I think that helps it to pack a more solid emotional punch. These guys really are in over their heads, and they can’t conveniently remove themselves from trouble, but at the same time, they aren’t going to either magically become action heroes OR simply wilt and give up. Blundering through it all and trying to get out ahead of the game is plausibly what would actually happen.
Apatow regular Seth Rogen takes on another leading role. James Franco, better known these days as the Green Goblin’s son in the Spider-Man movies despite his roots in the Apatow-produced TV show Freaks and Geeks, was widely lauded for his performance as a perpetually stoned drug dealer. I always like to see Kevin Corrigan, and I think it’s a great little role for him, bringing some plausible reality and depth of character to the typical bad-guy thug. Gary Cole (best known as the inimitable boss Lumbergh from Office Space) is a bit out of place as a serious bad guy, and I wonder whether that one role nearly 10 years ago typecast him too deeply to be believable as anything else.
This is a loud, profane, violent and hilarious romp. Totally recommended if any of those things appeal. Stay away if they don’t.
{ 2 } Comments