filmfun

When my friend and I watched the preview for Pineapple Express , I couldn’t hold in my excitement for the film, but his only response was a shrug of the shoulders and the comment, “I’m not a fan of stoner movies.” I stared at him questioningly. I explained to him that this was not going to be a typical stoner movie; it’s a Judd Apatow and crew film, it has to be about much more than that. I listed off Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Knocked Up and tried to make him understand how amazingly funny and clever Apatow’s style of writing is.

After seeing the film my predictions were proven correct, it definitely was not just another stoner movie. Yes the plot revolves around weed but it’s the relationship and growing friendship between Dale (Seth Rogen) and his drug dealer Saul (James Franco). This is what I appreciate about Apatow’s work - the way he builds relationships between characters; it’s also why I appreciate the Apatow crew of actors who pull off these unusual and comedic characters so well. Rogen and Franco are Apatow actors from way back in his 1999 television series Freaks and Geeks . Rogen’s character Ken in the start of the series just delivered great one-liners but as the show progressed we saw him with his first girlfriend which provided more depth to his character through this relationship. Franco’s character Daniel is developed by his trials of his love/hate relationship with his girlfriend throughout the series. It is this focus on relationships that provides depth to Apatow’s humor. He creates characters that we can relate to because they too care about and are affected by the similar progression and digressions of relationships as we are in our own lives.

In Pineapple Express, we are first introduced to Dale as he goes about his daily routine of ‘serving’ people their court orders and smoking pot during the drive. We see him meet his girlfriend in the halls of her high school, in which he looks very out of place as a slightly overweight, 25 year old man in a suit, compared to the teenage jocks she hangs out with. Next it’s time for him to stop by his drug dealer’s house to stock up on some more weed. Meet Saul - lonely drug dealer who’s trying to raise enough money to pay for a good retirement home for his grandmother, and dreams of one day becoming a famous architect, but for now remains stoned practically all the time.

While in his car smoking the rare Pineapple Express weed Saul sold him, Dale becomes the single witness to a murder performed by a crooked cop. Dale panics and throws his roach of Pineapple Express out the window leaving it at the scene. Pineapple Express is so rare it can be traced back to Saul and possibly Dale. These two make an odd pair, but they are forced to spend all their time together as they are on the run from the cops. The rest of film showcases what Apatow does best, the development of his characters in hilarious ways as they develop their friendship.

There are many memorable scenes throughout the film as both Rogen and Franco give hilarious performances (Rogen’s awkwardness and Franco’s dopey expressions are my personal favorites). But there was one scene in particular that made me laugh so hard I started to cry and was still giggling into the next scene. I absolutely love it when people fall and in this scene it was so well choreographed with running and falling I couldn’t control myself.

During another scene in the movie, I heard a very loud laugh from a man in the row in front of us. When I looked to see who the loud laugh came from I realized it was from a man with his wife and they had to be at least 65, they looked to be about the retired age. It made me extremely happy to see that this film can reach out to even an older generation. I’m not saying that all 65 year olds would love this film, they probably wouldn’t, these two could have just been the cool exception, but it was still awesome to witness.

So, if you are an Apatow and crew fan you should have seen this movie already and loved it. If you’re not a fan then you should see the movie, fall in love with it, watch more Apatow and crew creations to learn and then become a fan of this brilliant type of humor.

-Shavon Keller

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