Written by Nick Da Costa | Thursday, November 27, 2008 | Comment on this article | + Share
Comedies are actually funny again. Truly, laugh out loud, snort because you can’t help it, funny. Imagine that, having a sudden realisation about the world while watching a film about slackers getting high. Weed breeds wisdom and while ‘The Pineapple Express‘ isn’t anything revolutionary, it’s further sign that Apatow, Rogen and their growing troupe are revitalising the genre to wonderful effect.
As the twin evils of the Farelly Brothers and Adam Sandler continue to cloud your mind with their insipid, infantile and overly sentimental dross, Rogen and his ‘Superbad‘ writing partner, Evan Goldberg re-team to script a tale of Dale (Rogen), a process server who’s enjoying the simple pleasures of smoking pot and dating a high school chick. After witnessing a murder committed by the local drug kingpin (Cole), he goes on the lam with his wigged out dealer Saul (Franco). Meanwhile a pair of hit men (Corrigan and Robinson) use a ditched roach to track them down through the eponymous Pineapple Express and Saul’s supplier Red (McBride).
What’s great about this movie is that while ostensibly a comedy, like ‘Superbad’, it fuses genres. While that film mixed coming of age angst with bawdy teen hijinks, Pineapple takes the baked humour of stoner flicks and cleverly integrates the elements of action cinema. Instead of simply paying homage to these genres, they actually manage to make a fully fledged entry, and what an entry it is. From that perspective it’s no surprise that David Gordon Green is at the helm, injecting a charming lyricism and observational weight to proceedings. He even pokes fun at his own work with an odd jaunt in the forest that ends up with Saul trying to get a caterpillar high.
While some might prefer a more restrained, tighter hand in charge, the unashamedly loose structure, full of amusing diversions is just as a satisfying smoking session should be. This is spliff-riff filmmaking with a hilarious high. It’s a real joy to count off the references to the ramped up movies of the 80s, with the overblown action and bromo-eroticism of the ‘Lethal Weapon’ series and the grit and snipe partnership from ‘Midnight Run‘. Whether it’s the car chase with its inspired foot through the windscreen and sly nod to the fly-by in ‘Top Gun‘, the inventive (dustbuster to the face) and surprisingly gritty fight at Red’s house or the McTiernan inspired hyper-violence of the final shoot-out this is a film that juggles the dramatic elements effortlessly and with mesmerising results.
As for the comedy, it’s all in the performances. Rogen as Dale is the ostensible lead, but he’s playing the straight man here. Still very funny and full of charm in a roly-poly kind of way, but happy to take a step back and push the true stars to the fore. It’s Franco as Saul and McBride as Red that steal the picture, Franco with a performance of such humanity that it raises the movie up even higher. Sure at first glance he’s frustratingly addled, but it doesn’t turn into a rote ‘Cheech & Chong‘ interpretation of a stoner. Instead he embellishes the role with a dopey sweetness that’s never cloying; in fact it‘s endearing.
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