PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
2008
Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, based on a story by Judd Apatow, Rogen, and Goldberg
Directed by David Gordon Green
Judd Apatow has become a singular force in comedy film; his name alone almost guarantees box office riches (I say "almost" because, well, just talk to Dewey Cox). His success in movies has overshadowed his disappointing stint on television, where his critically acclaimed series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared were each canceled after one season. Not having seen either (though trust me, both are riding high on my Blockbuster Online queue), I've heard from others that they're smart, literate, and gut-bustingly funny, just like his best films, in which he always has more direct creative input. Because so far, his movies have been split into two camps: Idiotic laffers like Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby or You Don't Mess with the Zohan, which are more driven by its onscreen talent (or lack thereof); and intelligent, well-crafted knee-slappers like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up--the two films so far that he's written and directed--or this year's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, handled with aplomb by director Nicholas Stoller and writer-star Jason Segel.
But there's a new brand of Apatow productions rearing its head. Seth Rogen, the star of Knocked Up, as well as a dependable scene stealer in The 40 Year Old Virgin, and his lifelong friend Evan Goldberg, have taken to writing their own movies, movies that are sloppy yet scrappy, and filled with genuine heart. Last year's Superbad was a surprise hit, and though I thought it was funny, I wasn't amazed as everyone else seemed to be. There were laughs aplenty, I can't argue that, but the chemistry between Jonah Hill and Michael Cera felt off, plus Hill can't shoulder the weight of leading an entire picture. The real gold came in the supporting scenes, where Christopher Mintz-Plasse ripped it up as the already legendary McLovin, with Bill Hader and Rogen himself as two slacker cops. Rogen and Goldberg's new film, Pineapple Express, has a script just as sloppy, but it's even scrappier than Superbad. This time out, while the supporting characters still add to the effect, the leads are right at the heart of what makes the movie as hilarious as it is.
Dale Denton (Rogen) is a process server who gets high in between putting on disguises to make people comfortable enough so he can hand them their subpoenas. He's dating bitchy high school girl Angie (Amber Heard) whom he visits at school every day, only to get into jealous territorial mode every time a strikingly more athletic boy talks to her, not to mention telling her teachers to fuck off. Dale and Angie actually have arguments about who's more immature, which paints a pretty telling picture. Every so often, Dale will slip on down to get some pot at Saul Silver's (James Franco) pad. Saul is a total burn-out, but one of those charming ones who genuinely loves toking while watching The Jeffersons all day. In real life, maybe he'd be sad, but here he's a sweet, friendly guy who just so happens to be a drug dealer. One day, Dale goes to Saul's, and Saul gives him a new strain of weed, Pineapple Express, named after a freakish weather system and smelling "like God's vagina." Saul's the only Pineapple Express seller in town, and Dale is the first person he's sold to. So, Dale takes the weed with him to serve the next person on his list, Ted Jones (Gary Cole), who by startling coincidence is Saul's supplier. As Dale sits outside of Ted's house doing some Pineapple Express, he witnesses Ted, accompanied by a female police officer (Rosie Perez), murder an Asian man. Shocked, Dale throws the bud out the window and noisily speeds away to Saul's house. He and Saul know that it's only a matter of time before Ted finds the bud, realizes that the mystery witness is connected to Saul, and comes to hunt them down. So, the two stoners pack some Fruit Roll-Ups and go on the lam.
What follows is a series of increasingly ridiculous situations as the plot becomes more and more extreme--there's a full-on drug war at the end--yet it's all held together by indie auteur David Gordon Green, making his leap to the mainstream. I've never actually seen any of his other films, but I can say that Green is the reason the movie spirals out of control while still seeming coherent. There are surprisingly artful touches dotted throughout; nothing too overwhelming, but enough to let you know that the guy behind the camera actually cares. And it's not just that he can do the comedy; he can also do the action. Pineapple Express is at once a tongue-in-cheek salute to the silly action movies of yore as well as a silly action movie itself. There's an early fight scene with Saul's dealer buddy Red (Danny R. McBride, on his way to schlub superstardom) which has a brutal intensity and a manic energy that is absolutely brilliant, and probably the film's best setpiece, even besting the hilarious car chase.
I'd be interested to know, though, just how much of the audience the movie loses in its last third, when it intentionally becomes a bad 80's/90's action flick. Cliché after cliché is thrown on the screen with loving enthusiasm: Bad one-liners, over-the-top gunplay, overwrought guitars on the soundtrack. Its transition from amiable stoner goof to crazy action movie is a little rough (I could've done without the handcuffs scene), and doesn't handle it as nimbly as, say, Hot Fuzz, a movie where the parody was overt and clear, while Pineapple Express becomes what it's skewering. Still, I got the joke, and thought the movie's hilarity rarely wavered.
As I said before, though, Rogen and Franco are the reason why the movie succeeds as wonderfully as it does. In Dale Denton, there are flashes of Jonah Hill's Seth from Superbad, who Rogen was initially supposed to play before sitting on the script for a long time and getting too old. But Rogen has the charm and the timing to handle the material, not least of all because he wrote the fuckin' thing. Speaking of casting change-ups, Rogen was initially supposed to play Saul, while Franco was supposed to play Dale. A happier reversal there has never been. Rogen gets to play the straight man for once, and his exasperation at Saul's hopelessly stoned ideas is perfect. Franco is the real delight, however; I've only ever seen the dude as Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man movies, where he slowly--and not entirely believably--descended into jealousy and madness. So to see him as a grinning, glazed-eyes stoner was something of a revelation. Franco needs to hop back onto the Apatow bandwagon with the rest of his buddies, because not only does he play a fantastic pothead, but he has great chemistry with Rogen, and the two create another one of those arrested-development male bonds that always pop up in these movies. This one really works, though, and at times when it looks like one of them isn't going to make it, you're actually on the edge of your seat.
Pineapple Express can be weird and messy, but so can its target audience. For the record, I don't do drugs of any kind (I can't even go the Bill Clinton "I did not inhale" route, I seriously have never done anything), but I still think this is one of the funniest movies of the year, and another addition to what has been a surprisingly enjoyable summer movie slate.
- Arlo J. Wiley
August 10, 2008
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