Sunday, June 15, 2008

Pineapple Express: Will it live up to the hype?


Half Baked, Harold and Kumar, Smiley Face. The pothead-adventure-comedy genre is no novelty. From the days of Cheech and Chong to the marijuana savvy characters of How High, smoking the ghanj on film has been a growing choice of subject matter for comedic filmmakers. Pothead-adventure-comedies (or PACs, for simplicity value) can be considered a genre as they have the following traits in common: the main conflict consists of extenuating circumstances that only a pothead could manage to force upon him or herself; the conflict escalates to uncanny occurrences which the protagonists must resolve before the film's end (but don't always succeed in doing so); the protagonists work throughout the duration of the film towards a goal; and finally, lots and lots of Philly blunts, pinners, bong hits, and shotguns are present. Several PACs have been found appealing not only to members of ghanja culture, but some even to the masses. Of the numerous PACs that have been made, none have received as much pre-release praise as Pineapple Express, and it is still over a month away.

Every stoner in Canada has watched the trailer online a dozen times, has seen the Redband rated R version, and played the Pineapple Express game on the website, www.ridetheexpress.com. If this film doesn't live up to its hype, thousands of loyal mary-jane lovers will roam the streets with rage. Ok, they probably won't have any rage at all since they'll be burnt out from the canon they smoked prior to entering the film, but they sure as hell won't be stoked. Remember Wesley Pipes and Billy Bong Thorton? If Pineapple Express carries even a fragment of the stoner-perspective found in Half-Baked, then it will not disappoint. Not to mention the fact that the film stars the new Rat Pack members of comedy, Seth Rogen and James Franco, along with the always hilarious Bill Hader. And remember the abundantly annoying Bill Lumbergh from Office Space, played by Gary Cole? You better believe he's in the film too! Even Danny McBride (Hot Rod, All the Real Girls) has a role!

It is very unlikely that this incredibly talented and comical cast will fail to bring stoners everything they want to see in a PAC: indiotic behaviour, highly unlikely (and hard to believe) action scenes, and of course the green stuff. Get ready to ride the express August 8th, 2008!

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