first thing first. buy the mgmt album oracular spectacular.
second. the pineapple express is good. it's funny. it's pretty entertaining. it is a helluva lot more than what bill goodykoontz describes as "minor apatow" in his indaianapolis star review. but with that being said, it's not great and i think it's annointment into the pantheon of "new classics" should be held up for just a second so that a steady reflrction over time may build.
one problem i have with the film is its use of marijuana as a scapegoat for stupidity. as if the only way the audience will believe that these three morons could survive an attack on a drug warehouse is if they stop smoking just long enough to regain their "lost" intelligence. really? so that was just the drugs talking when james franco was rambling about piranahs and heat seeking missiles? i mean, the scene where rogan goes all gung ho against weed and franco was actually kind of insulting, as if all their problems could have marijuana as their epicenter, and that it was somehow making them dumber. no sadly...while marijuana slows down the decision making process(sometimes a good thing) it does not impact the intelligence behind the decision. if one is a dumbass regularly, they will be a dumbass whilst high. that the express seems to forget this perturbs me. and i think it's kind of lame to put that on a movie which spends its first hour celebrating the practice.
a few days after i watched the express i found that not a ton of it had stuck with me. and i know all you assholes out there are probably attributing that to the weed, but fuck you. i was way higher for forgetting sarah marshall and walked away being able to sing aldous snow songs for days afterward. no, i think the problem lies in the fact that its almost too put together. it plots out very quickly, which i don't think plays to the strong suits of either david gordon green or the judd apatow players. it seems that alot of what i truly enjoy about projects as diverse as sarah marshall, anchorman, george washington and all the real girls are the scenes which almost work as asides to the main plotline. really awesome scenes like making fun of the beard in knocked up, or the pig slaughter in sarah marshall(no im not...you're crying) or the dancing in the bowling alley scene from all the real girls had only one real mirror in the express. the getting the caterpillar high while swordfighting in the woods scene is fucking gorgeous and memorable and right out of the dgg/tim orr playbook. it looks like a nice fuzzy memory even as its unfolding and honestly it is the heart of the entire film. but there isn't enough like it through the rest of the film until the last scene(which is also pretty fucking good)
there just seems to be something missing. maybe it's the m.i.a. song. maybe its the playfulness in the farly straightforward plot. maybe it was missing women. but my bet, because he makes all apatow films better, is that this film struggles to be memorable because of its lack of paul rudd. the pineapple express just needed some kunu. as a matter of fact...fuck dale and saul...just show me red and kunu and bill hader getting high all day(with my guy damascus as a drug thug) now that would be worthy of david gordon green.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Very interesting and thoughtful review of the film - and a good explanation of why it didn't work for or completely entertain you.
The thing is, I somewhat agree with you - specifically when you said that the film didn't stick with you. I'm not going to lie: I laughed HARD and A LOT during the film, there were very few times I wasn't laughing. As comedy, I really enjoyed it. But, sitting here right now, I can quote the hell out of "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" - but I'm not remembering much of anything besides the trailer.
You mention the scene where Dale suggests that they stop smoking weed - I too felt that was way out of place, and almost felt like "a message" part of the movie. The only humor I found from that scene was when I leaned over to Samir and said, "C-3P0 and R2-D2 are getting in their fight, and about to go their separate ways..." He looked at me and shook his head. Then, ten seconds late it faded into a shot of the sand! Then, panned up to reveal Franco. We both busted up laughing. Then, the warehouse at the end of the film becomes the Sandcrawler. Now, if only Lucas was smart enough to have C-3P0 and R2-D2 wage war on the Jawas - that would have rocked!
I don't agree when you say the film gets into the story too quickly. I don't believe the actual murder happens under 25/30 minutes into the movie. (Almost 10 minutes with Hader, 5 Minutes of credits, 5 Minutes at school with his girlfriend, 5/7 Minutes with Franco buying the weed, and then he gets to the guys house.) And when the film is only 1:45 long, that's close to a third of the movie reserved for character development and 2/3 of the movie for the story.
Another thing to remember is "Pineapple Express" was one of their first films they ever wrote as a "team" and attempted to shop it around 10 years ago. Then, like most successful groups, they found themselves at a point when they cold make anything they wanted, and they remember this old script they all really liked. Now, I'm sure it was re-written a couple of times and touched up recently - but they were holding onto their original concept, which was developed before many of them new exactly what they were doing in Hollywood.
I think the entire sequence in the school - with Dale's girlfriend - was like the infant version of many of the scene you enjoyed in other Apatow/Rogan Productions. It had a very similar feel to the poolside discussion of getting the website running in "Knocked Up".
It's not as funny as "Superbad".
It's not as enjoyable as "Knocked Up".
But, I think I will put it above "40-Year Old Virgin". And I've never been a fan of "Anchorman", so it's obviously above that (for me).
The film was missing Paul Rudd, just like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" was missing Seth Rogan. (And "Poor Man's Seth Rogan" Jonah Hill does not count... He's like the Gobot of Seth Rogan).
The MIA song being MIA was my biggest complaint. In fact, as a joke I almost put a disclaimer in my top 5 warning people that Paper Planes is not in the movie.
I agree with the too much plot, not enough asides. The Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, and Martin Starr scenes in Knocked Up are the reason its my favorite Apatow. It does feel as if they get to the plot too soon. The stop smoking weed scene was basically there to appease the Apatow formula where there is a misunderstanding or fall out at the 3/4 mark that slows all of the films down.
Oh and by the way I felt it was missing Jason Segel.
from the desk of 'me too': Took the Express today. Liked it alright. Me and some fat guy were the only ones busting a gut at certain jokes. Like the ones about Krull and the Rancor. I remember during that scene in the woods I was thinking "This is the best scene in the movie." Having seen this and Forgetting Sarah Marshall for the 1st time this week,the comparison of the two was unavoidable for my sis and me. She guiltily confessed afterward to liking FSM more. I have to agree. The August movie curse strikes again!! and yeah, this movie needed M.I.A. and Paul Schneider.
So, this whole thing got me thinking.... If David Gordon Green's next movie is supposedly a Suspiria remake with Natalie Portman, who the hell will she play? She's too young(and attractive) to be a teacher and far too old to be a student.
If Suspiria is released next year, Natalie Portman will be the same age Jessica Harper was when the original was released.
Doesn't every movie need Paul Schneider and MIA?
Post a Comment