An early review: Pineapple Express opens August 8, 2008.Indie-wunderkind David Gordon Green (DGG) directs Seth Rogen and James Franco in this stoner action-comedy. I did a double take when I heard that DGG was attached to this project. Seriously, his first two films George Washington and All the Real Girls are some of the best films of the early 2000's.
He lost some cache with me with his later films, but it's always nice to see directors challenging themselves, or at least taking chances with different material.
Seth Rogen plays a subpoena server, with a high-school girlfriend, who just happens to witness a murder. Unfortunately, the bad-folks are able to track him and his dealer (James Franco) because of the weed that Rogen was smoking when he saw what he saw. The rare weed is called Pineapple Express.
So basically, the movie is Rogen and Franco running from the bad guys (which includes a funny performance by Rosie Perez) and trying to get high along the way.
There's alot of good things with the movie: Seth Rogen is still able to keep himself fresh and endearing, even though he's pretty much playing the same character over and over. James Franco is a likeable stoner. The supporting cast is topnotch, with a wonderful array of bizarre characters. In many ways though, the supporting cast is far more interesting than the two lead characters. The best moments are during the wacky chases, or when things go completely haywire. This is probably to DGG credit.
Like I said, there are a lot of good things. Unfortunately, there are far more bad things. The script is just too safe. It's not satirical enough. It's not homage-ish enough. It's not deconstructive enough. Quite frankly, it's just not funny enough. A lot of the jokes we've seen/heard before, and gets a bit repetitive.
So, all in all, there are a few chuckles, and a few laugh out loud moments, but they are too far apart for me to recommend this picture. But, I have no doubt it will be one of this summer's blockbusters.
No comments:
Post a Comment