Amy's Robot

Danny McBride : Pineapple Express :: Seth Rogen : The 40 Year Old Virgin

Pineapple Express comes out today. Just like Superbad came out a few months after Knocked Up last summer, this one looks like it's going to be the weirder follow-up to the mainstream hit (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) that came out in the spring. Dirtier jokes, fewer female characters, and a lot more weed.

Most reviews say the same thing: it's great when it's just James Franco and Seth Rogen sitting around talking smack, then goes off track when it turns into a big heavy action movie in the last half hour. Here's Manohla's NY Times review, the Slate review, Edelstein at NY Mag (he calls it "empty and formulaic" but likes it anyway.) The Daily News reviewer recommends you just go back and watch old episodes of "Freaks and Geeks". Roger Ebert stands apart--he pretty much loves the whole thing. But he gave 3 stars to The Mummy 3, so.

Seth Rogen was the big revelation from The 40 Year Old Virgin two years ago--I think the major discovery of Pineapple Express is going to be Danny McBride, the third guy in the movie posters. The director, David Gordon Green, brought him along from an earlier smaller movie he did, All the Real Girls, and the critics like him a lot. Dana Stevens says "he should be commanding his own goofy franchise in a matter of months," and Manohla says he "steals the show".

McBride is also in Tropic Thunder, which comes out in a week and is going to be huuuge. This guy will be hosting SNL by this time next year. Here are two interviews with him about each movie and an upcoming HBO show that he wrote and stars in. He's beside himself with excitement over his growing fame--he says the two new movies are "both so fucking awesome". Heh. I think I'm convinced.

categories: Movies
posted by amy at 4:13 PM | #