Pineapple Express, and some other random thoughts

Pineapple Express
This was one of my most-anticipated films of the year: Seth Rogen and James Franco in an action/comedy/stoner movie directed by David Gordon Green? How could you go wrong? Well, I'm happy to report that this movie succeeds in most of what it tries to do, and even when it doesn't, it's still pretty damn fun to watch.
When I heard about this movie around the time of the video release of Knocked Up, I was really excited. The premise sounded great, the idea of seeing Freaks and Geeks co-stars Rogen and Franco together again was awesome, and the wonderfully inspired choice of David Gordon Green (All the Real Girls, George Washington) as director all added up to a must-see for me. With the wait finally over, I sat down last week in a packed movie theater to watch the film. It was the day after opening day, the last show of the night, and it was nearly sold out. About 90% of the crowd was under 25, and the unmistakable stench of marijuana filled the theater, no doubt from the many, many people who must have smoked just before the show. With Rolling Stone having proclaimed Pineapple Express "the best stoner movie ever" days before, you really couldn't have expected much else. Why am I bringing this up? Well, first of all, I will tell you straight up, there is a lot of pot-related stuff in this movie. The plot revolves around it, the characters are frequently toking up, and the title itself is a reference to a particular strain of marijuana. Thankfully, the movie doesn't fall into the trap that most "stoner" movies fall into: You don't have to be stoned to enjoy it.
While most of the credit is likely to go to writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, I have a sneaking suspicion that biggest reason the film succeeds is the direction of David Gordon Green. Green has previously been known for independently-produced dramas (my favorite of which is the aforementioned All the Real Girls) and it truly was a stroke of genius to hire him for this movie. The script is funny, but it could have easily veered wildly out of control in the hands of a lesser director. Similar to the choice of hiring indie director Greg Mottola for Superbad, Pineapple benefits greatly from the attention to detail that most Hollywood directors lack. Of all the recent Judd Apatow-produced comedies of late, this film had the highest possibility of going terribly wrong due to the introduction of black comedy into the mix. Indeed, the comedy in this film is often more akin to Tarantino than to Apatow (a character, shot seven or eight times, passes out from loss of blood, and realizes he "should probably go to the hospital"). Under the strong direction of Green, however, the film veers from comedy to drama to action set pieces, and the tonal changes are usually flawless.
The film is not without its problems. It's a little overlong, and some dialogue scenes early on in the film probably could've been trimmed, but that's just nitpicking. It's a pretty satisfying film, and a good time overall.

Random thoughts
I just wanted to mention a few trailers and whatnot that appeared before the movie, that I thought would be worthwhile to mention.

First of all, there's the great Scorsese "please silence your cell phones" spot that's been in circulation at the theaters for the past few months. Anybody who hasn't seen it, check it out below. It is f-ing hilarious. Still makes me laugh every time.

Then there's this great ad for the upcoming "Stand Up 2 Cancer" telethon that will air simultaneously on ABC, NBC, and CBS. After a little research, I found that it was directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac). It really is quite beautiful and moving.


And finally, the trailer for the upcoming film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, directed by Peter Sollett (his first film since 2002's great Raising Victor Vargas). This looks good.