Current Conditions
38°F - OVERCAST
Car chases, gunfights and a touching story about friendship. Who would expect all of this to be the plot for the funniest movie of the summer?
Judd Apatow and his crew have struck gold yet again with "Pineapple Express," written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who also wrote "Superbad" together.
The story unfolds as the aspiring radio star Dale (Rogen), witnesses a murder and goes on the run with his drug-dealing and semi-conscious friend Saul, played by James Franco ("Spider-man"). The hilarious duo ends up involved in a series of wild mishaps, all the while becoming best friends.
The movie is fueled by the chemistry between Rogen and Franco, who first got their start on Apatow's shortlived series "Freaks and Geeks." The cast also includes many other regulars in movies produced by Apatow, like Craig Robinson ("Knocked Up," "The Office") and Bill Hader ("Superbad," "SNL").
A whole new genre has been approached in making this action-comedy, and gone are the relatable situations that took place in "Knocked Up" or "The 40 Year Old Virgin." However, in the midst of all the explosions and car crashes, there are still many memorable one-liners.
The success of the movie is due largely to its appeal to teenagers. "Pineapple Express" was marketed to viewers as very fast-paced. Another teen draw is the song "Paper Planes", by MIA, which was played in the commercials. One of very few disappointing things about this movie was it did not play the song at any point, which is a let down because most people now associate "Paper Planes" with "Pineapple Express." The song's lyrics and gunshot sound effects fit in perfectly with the movie.
The absurdity of the film's plot does not take away from the feeling of reality the film maintains. Though it is hard to imagine how you would get into some of the situations in the film, you can imagine how you would react to them. For instance, when caught up in a car chase with a windshield covered by a splashed frozen drink, rather than handle the situation smoothly, Dale instructs Saul to kick his foot through the window to break it. When he does, his foot ends up stuck through the window while still driving at a high speed. The chain of events is wild, but the characters handle everything just the way you would expect — wrong.
The movie was rightfully given an R rating, allowing its appeal to go straight to its target audience of older teens and people in their 20s. Of course, there is plenty of content that many people would find offensive or vulgar, but that is all a part of the increasing popularity in R-rated comedies over the last couple of years.What is great about these Apatow productions is the writers, actors and directors are willing to explore and think differently about how to make movies that have much more intelligent humor than the typical comedy. That is due to the vividly entertaining scripts and talented improvisation, which come together in making a highly creative move like "Pineapple Express." So if you are ready to laugh, let your inhibitions fly and see why for the last week everyone around you has been glad to dip their pen in the company ink.
E-mail: freestyle@lnpnews.com
