Two Great Tastes

For roughly the last decade cineastes have been obsessed with American films of the 1970s. It began more or less with Peter Biskind’s “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” book and continued on with the work of Spike Jonse, Wes Anderson, et al. This worship is completely deserved seeing as many films of the period were of such a fine quality but, where do we go from here? You can only strip-mine a decade for so long before you have to leave it for dead and move on. After seeing “Pineapple Express” it has become apparent that the 1980s is the new target.

For some this might sound like a scary prospect. Most film historians take the elitist view that the 1980s was a barren wasteland, save for the films of the Coen Brothers, Jim Jarmuch and the Davids Lynch and Cronenberg. Films like “The Breakfast Club”, “The Blues Brothers” and “Back to the Future” hold no appeal with these critics. But thanks to respected filmmakers like David Gordon Green tackling a film of this nature, we might soon be able to appreciate those films without feelings of guilt.

“Pineappple Express” is the off love child of two under appreciated genres – the stoner comedy and the action comedy. It’s equal parts Riggs/Murtaugh and Cheech/Chong (with a little Rosencrantz/Guildenstern thrown in for good measure). It’s kind of a genre relay race.

When the film begins it is very much a stoner flick (complete with a prologue on how ‘the man’ has suppressed the wonders of pot). Bong jokes, munchie jokes and elaborate smoke tricks reign supreme. Even the film’s editing has a nice “just keep truckin’” flow. All of this changes with a blood splattered window that signals the start of Act 2. The baton has now been passed to a Shane Black action and wisecracks extravaganza.

For pretty much the rest of the film, we follow our stoner odd couple as their trip turns increasingly less mellow. Bong hits are exchanged for bullet hits and it all unfolds with pot logic. Any and all paranoid theories put forth by our inebriated protagonists turns out to be gospel truth. Though it’s not really accurate to call them protagonists since they spend most of the film merely coping and adjusting to the situations they are thrown into.

This film IS the conversation a couple of pot-heads would have after watching an 80s action film. So much so in fact, that the film ends with our main characters at a diner, discussing the movie they were just in as if it were one they had watched.

Don't get me wrong, the film does have flaws. The violence quickly grows from shocking to funny to numbing and some scenes go on for too long, but when it works - it works. It is also really nice to see talented people try their hand at such a fun form.

This film likely won’t bring about the desired sea change and give 80s ‘Pop Corn Picks’ their day in the sun. In fact it will most likely result in a bunch of shitty imitations directed by Brett Ratner. But then again, do we really need the intelligista’s approval to appreciate something we know to be fun? Isn’t it enough to just know in your heart how awesome something is? And after all – KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE.