Movie Review: ‘Pineapple Express’
Okay, it’s good. It really is an entertaining flick. But I don’t think it’s an instant classic in the way that The 40-Year-Old Virgin or Knocked Up both were. These movies had the comedy and the heart, and this one’s got a lot of heart too, but also a surplus of slapstick.
Let’s praise “the good” before we start to bitch and moan. First up, James Franco (Saul). Really, very good. This is one of those guys who a straight man can watch and completely acknowledge his very clear handsomeness and heartthrob appeal. With his performance here, he snatches the movie up from veteran Rogen. When you watch this, the girls want to hook up with Saul, and the guys want to become his best friend. Along with Rogen—and I would bet this began back during the Freaks and Geeks era when they played Daniel Desario and Ken Miller—Franco creates a real sense of male camaraderie that the audience can’t help but warm up to and enjoy.
Another good moment is a scene in which Dale (Rogen) calls his high-school-aged girlfriend from a payphone. He and Saul have just found out they might be the targets of hitmen, so he calls her to warn her. After she reacts negatively and they sling insults at each other, a blubbering Dale breaks down and says he loves her, and she, on the other end, starts to cry too and says she loves him, and the moment is perfectly funny and tender at the same time. Then, a moment later, the girlfriend says she wants to marry him one day, and Dale smartens up and says, “Wait a minute, you want to marry me? But I’m an idiot!” And they start fighting again, and he hangs up on her, and it’s so cute, and so well-done, and finally a classic example of Apatow’s style—genuine moments of real emotional tenderness, broken up abruptly with comic relief of a one-liner that destroys the moment. It works smoothly.
Finally there’s Gary Cole, who can apparently do no wrong. He’s one of those guys who was able to play a character as memorable as Bill Lumbergh in Office Space, and yet escaped the stigma of always being known as that one dude. I like him best as the dad in Talladega Nights– a movie lots of people hated, but I insist gets funnier, and more charming, on second and third viewings. Here, as the “bad guy,” he’s terrific. Even just his facial expressions are gold.
On to “the bad,” though. First, some of the side characters, many of whom are very talented actors, are used poorly and fall flat in general. The evil female cop is a dud. Her lines fail to illicit laughs– she’s your typical angry villian, like a caricature out of Home Alone 7– she doesn’t belong in an adult movie.
Then there’s Darryl from The Office (real name Craig Robinson) who is always funny. He’s spectacular as the nightclub bouncer in Knocked Up, but here he kind of reprises the character, using the same whiny-funny tone of voice and pouty face, portraying the archetypal “tough-guy-who’s-really-a-softie” part. It’s kind of lame. It especially gets stupid when Rogen is forced to shoot him (maybe it’s Franco who shoots him, I forget) and Robinson sits there half-crying, saying “I can’t believe you shot me!” Not very funny.
Finally there’s the character of “Red.” Okay, I get it– he’s cool because he’s not one of the main guys, but he kinda comes from surprise and ends up joining ‘the team’ and has some real funny lines and scenes. But I’ve heard so many people/reviews say that ‘Red steals the movie,’ and no, he doesn’t. I can’t tell if it’s the character or the actor I didn’t much like, but he is no Rogen or Franco. Most of the time, his ghetto-slang is more grating than funny (oh, white guy talking like a gangsta, that’s a concept no other comedies have tapped) and by the end of the movie when he’s coughing blood over breakfast and the other characters are joking that he should probably go to the hospital (I admit that diner scene was hilarious) I was kinda hoping he’d keel over right there and die. Now that would have been brave comedy.
You see, that’s the main problem with this movie, if you compare it to other Apatow outings. The cast of supporting characters just doesn’t measure up. Franco and Rogen are on point, but they’re not enough to take this from a good to a great movie. In The 40-Year-Old-Virgin, every character is developed and fleshed out. All the workers from the electronics store are funny and uniquely acted, with their own clear personalities (Rogen, Rudd, Romany Malco [Conrad on Weeds], the old Indian guy who makes fun of Steve Carrell). Catherine Keener’s daughter (who’ll play Nora in the forthcoming Nick and Nora’s Playlist) gets well-developed and really progresses nicely from hating Carrell to supporting him and liking him as a suitor for her mom.
Or take Knocked Up, in which Rogen himself, as the protagonist, but also Katherine Heigl, her character’s sister, and her brother-in-law Paul Rudd, all become their own real, likeable people, and they aren’t flat like the side characters in Pineapple Express. Even Rogen’s dad, and his gang of friends, too (including Jonah Hill, Bill from Freaks and Geeks, and Jason Segel), are all well-done and emerge as important to the plot of the movie, each in their own way. Here in Pineapple, there literally is only Saul and Dale.
Finally, in addition to the cast, I didn’t like when the movie dissolved into a silly action spoof. It felt like the clever comedy had turned into Rush Hour 4, but with villains that were even more absurd and childish than the ones Jackie Chan always gets to fight. I understand that the point was for it to be over the top, and boy was it, but it was closer to Airplane slapstick than Shaun of the Dead-style comedic violence.
My last gripe is about the girlfriend plot line. I mentioned above that I really like the chemistry between Rogen and whoever it is that plays his girlfriend. I think the scenes between them are funny, but also tender (older guy dating high school girl is a great chance for both comic gold and warm honesty) and I couldn’t believe she never shows up again in the film after she and Rogen fight on the phone and scream at each other. Are we supposed to think that’s it, or no? Are we not supposed to care? I did, and even though I know the emphasis here is on the ‘bromance,’ I was unimpressed at their failure to bring her back and let us see a resolution to their slightly-taboo relationship.
All that said, it’s a solid comedy, because it’s Judd fucking Apatow. Rogen and Franco are an excellent duo, just as Michael Cera and Jonah Hill were before them, and Rogen and Paul Rudd before that. This will never be in my hallowed comedy hall of fame with movies like Dude, Where’s My Car, Wedding Crashers, 40-Year-Old-Virgin, or Half Baked. And I won’t buy it on DVD (I’m sure it’ll be on movie channels every god damn night). But it’s worthwhile, and it’ll entertain you.
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