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Pineapple Express (2008)
Director: David Gordon Green
Movie review
From Time Out New York
The most acclaimed filmmaker to join the Apatow stable, David Gordon Green has a keen eye for landscapes and a gift for small-town texture. But for a stoner odyssey as single-minded as Pineapple Express, you need a director who’s a lot less chill. In this context, Green’s affection for actors translates to indulgent mugging. What previously seemed like off-kilter pacing here becomes an unfortunate reluctance to step on the gas.
It doesn’t help that the basic premise is Team Apatow’s flimsiest yet, seemingly constructed from a high-concept Mad Lib: A process server (Rogen) and his dealer (Franco) go on the run after one of them witnesses a murder by a slow-witted drug lord (Cole) and his cop accomplice (Perez). Screenwriters Rogen and Evan Goldberg managed to put a personal spin on adolescent fumblings in Superbad, but the explosive mayhem here feels forced. As the Coens or David Lynch will tell you, there’s much comic potential in a severed ear, but it’s generally a matter of timing and context.
In keeping with the movie’s blissed-out vibe, Green drops subplots entirely—any word on what happens to the fawning high-school girlfriend?—and by the end the movie’s nonchalance seems less deliberate than sloppy. The lone treasure is Danny McBride (who made his debut in Green’s All the Real Girls), hilarious as a middleman who doesn’t know when to quit. The rest may make you wonder if you were high during last year’s accolades.
Author: Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out New York Issue 671: August 7–13, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- sacha said...
- Posted on Sep 22 2008 05:52 For me this movie was amazing. Before going to see pineapple express i went and seen Step Brothers, i was deeply disapointed in that movie. Then seeing pineapple express, this was another level of comedy. Really good, i mean it may seem simliar to other movies but this was better than expected. Just this weekend i seen tropic thunder, not a patch on Pineapple Express. Read it and believe it!
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- martin said...
- Posted on Sep 20 2008 15:43 i have no idea what you guys are on about i was high as a kite when i went to see it and still it didnt get a single laugh out of me
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- Dominic said...
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Posted on Sep 17 2008 18:18
This film is slightly funny but also generally shit. Overly violent, trying too hard to copy "Due where's my car" but failing badly. Heard about 5 laughs from the cinema so the other 5* reviewers must have been high at the time.
Some hilarious jokes from the film:
Man gets shot multiple times in multiple scenes (just like Snatch) and still lives.
Shoots mans toes clean off with a shot gun (just like the finger shooting scene in Taxi Driver)
Hilarious car chase with his foot in the windscreen, but then he manages to free it.
This is Taxi Driver, Dude where's my car and Beverly Hills Cop mixed up into one with all the jokes removed. - Report as inappropriate
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- Tom said...
- Posted on Sep 14 2008 08:57 Absolutely hilarious...unbelievably funny all the way through...a true laugh-out-loud comedy
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- billy Boyd said...
- Posted on Aug 12 2008 07:45 Now in the 21st century the new generation of comedy is stoner and fart jokes. This may sound bad but is actually unbelievably hilarious for the entire movie you get the pleasure of seeing and hearing a genious screenplay with endless humour. Reviewers may dislike this movie for it's often lack of logic but is a must see for anybody who has a sense of humour which isn't Shakespeare!
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- Marshe' said...
- Posted on Aug 06 2008 21:02 This movie was hilarious!!!! I laughed from the time the movie started until the credits
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Cast & crew
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Bill Hader, James Remar, Gary Cole, Joe Lo Truglio, Amber Heard, Rosie Perez full cast
Duration: 112 mins
US Release: Aug 6 2008
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