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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Pineapple Express (2008/Unrated/Sony DVD Single Edition)

Pineapple Express (2008/Unrated/Sony DVD Single Edition)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C+     Film: C+

 

 

Director David Gordon Green first found wide acclaim for his underrated George Washington (2000) and has been trying to find more commercial and critical traction ever since.  After more independent work (Undertow, Snow Angels) he comes up with his most commercial film yet in Pineapple Express (2008), a film that is a “stoner comedy” on the surface, but tries to cover all kinds of territory and almost pulls off the coup of being a great comedy.

 

Instead, the Seth Rogen/Judd Apatow/Evan Goldberg screenplay tries to cover much territory to be the Destroy All Monsters of such films, staring with the monochrome opening set in the 1950s as military drug tests humorously make its use in the country illegal, then we fast forward to the usual modern Apatow/Rogen world where now is sort of also then (i.e., the 1970s and 1980s) as Rogen plays a guy who delivers court notices (‘you’ve been served’) and loves to smoke you know what.

 

He does this in disguises as if he is going to deliver a singing telegram and one day, he is about to complete another job when he witnesses a murder and the killers see him… sort of.  This makes him miss his date with a high school girl and her family (he is too old for her) and goes to his dealer (James Franco in a really good performance) for help.  Of course, this is a tight-knit community and one of the killer’s is a kingpin-level dealer (Gary Cole having fun with his bad guy persona) and the other a lady cop (Rosie Perez giving a great performance) and it just gets crazier and crazier.

 

The film can be split into thirds.  The first is the typical stoner comedy, the middle second is the big surprise building into a suspenseful situation with some real laughs and proof that Rogen is a great comic actor, but the last third collapses, never delivering on its potential and the script becomes too silly.  That means a few great missed opportunities, the film not being the home run it almost was and it is also more violent than it needed to be.  For what is here, it is worth a look and it is worth a look.

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is nicely transferred, with only some softness, which should make for an interesting comparison to the Blu-ray whenever we see it.  You get some motion blur, but this looks decent and was shot in Super 35mm by Tim Orr in some of his best work to date.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is joke-based, but the surrounds have good ambience often while the music and sound effects are worked in well.  Extras include a funny gag reel, extended/alternative scenes, making of featurette and cast/crew commentary.  A double DVD set adds more and the Blu-ray has its own exclusives.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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