I am generally apprehensive of stoner comedies. It’s not for any political or judgmental reasons, so much as it seems often like an excuse for lazy, unstructured comedy, and well, I guess it just isn’t my thing in the same way I like peanut butter, but not peanuts because the texture of them give me the willies. That’s why I wasn’t really looking forward to PINEAPPLE EXPRESS.
Thankfully my hesitance was entirely unmerited, something I probably should have anticipated given everyone involved in this film. The joy of the film is watching it subversively mix together all sorts of genre to create a bizarre but effective hybrid of stoner flicks, buddy-cop action movies, gangster and caper sagas and Hitchcock like “wrong man” adventures. It mashes them up together with a manic and irreverent spirit, speed, and energy, which by all accounts shouldn’t work.
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With FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL having hit theatres recently, it seems that Apatow comedies have hit a watershed mark of sorts in that people are now beginning to wonder (as I did yesterday), whether it’s all getting a bit stale. Over at Cracked, Michael Swaim’s expresses his opinion that the comedies are getting repetitive through a very creative process of coming up with a “How To Make Your Own Judd Apatow Movie” guide. It’s an amusing article, if a little bit unnecessarily mean-spirited, and thinks it’s funnier than it actually is, especially when it keeps on making the same joke suggesting Apatow & Co are always high or drunk when making their films.
Contrary to Swaim’s opinion, over at Cinematical we have Monika Bartyzel’s attempt to urge audiences to not give in entirely to “Judd Apatow fatigue” (as she calls it), and provides “Five Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Forget Sarah Marshall.” Her points are all valid, and actually highlight the film’s strengths quite well, a lot of which I failed to mention in my own review.
But wait! If you’re looking for a more analytical approach, Jim Emerson (who currently spends his days on Roger Ebert’s webpage), analytically deconstructs Apatow touched films as if they were a genre onto themselves over at MSN Movies. In some ways it’s a compliment that his films lend themselves to a film studies approach. On the other hand the fact that they’re treated like a thematic genre simply reinforces the repetition of his films.
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Before I get to far along, let me say that I’ve enjoyed all of the films Apatow has written and directed, and most of the films he has had a producing hand in. The thing is, while I was watching FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL this past weekend, I got the creeping feeling that maybe we’re starting to get over-exposed to his repetitive brand of humor and his shtick is going to start getting old soon.
Part of the problem is the plots, as almost without fail the majority of the movies he’s been involved with feature slacker boy-men having to grow up, stop being immature, oblivious, or stunted and learn to be sensitive, mature, men-men who have squared off against their supposed shortcomings and come out on the other side. In telling these stories, the movies all feature the same mix of crass humor and big heart, which eventually give way to a happy poignant ending and moral lessons. In theory, that’s not a bad thing, but – again – the repetition is the rub. During FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL while I was laughing, I often felt a sense of déjà vu, and it was largely because I was laughing at the same style of jokes I’d been laughing at for a while now. Yes, they are still funny, and they are still great enough to work multiple times (like any particular brand of humor) but there inevitably has to come a point where these films start risking that you might not laugh anymore at some of the jokes because you feel you’ve heard them before.
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MAMMA MIA!
I’ve always had a devoted love for whimsical musicals, if not necessarily ABBA. It’s the former that has me rather drawn to this trailer for the film adaptation of the successful Broadway musical (which I never actually saw). Sure, the trailer is a bit grating, what with the whole “three Dads” thing being emphasized every ten seconds, and its annoyingly rapid editing, but what emerges is still the fact that it’s a silly, infectious, and undoubtedly entertaining fluffy musical. You also can’t argue with the cast. I mean, Meryl Streep (who it’s just delightful to see having this much fun), Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Waters, and Christine Baranski? I’m particularly excited to see two of my favorite young and up-and-comers Dominic Cooper (HISTORY BOYS, STARTER FOR 10) and Amanda Seyfried (“Veronica Mars,” NINE LIVES, MEAN GIRLS) get a high profile film gig.
Check it out here.
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
To be frank, I have no idea what people are so excited about here. Okay, I do. It’s written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (SUPERBAD), and produced by Judd Apatow. That should really be enough. The thing is I didn’t find the teaser trailer, the red band trailer, nor the most recent trailer really that funny. There are a few gems, sure, like the “I’m kind of flabbergasted when you say things like that” bit, but for the most part it roused a might “meh” out of me. Maybe it’s just that I’ve never been much drawn to the slacker-stoner genre, or maybe it’s just that it’s not that funny.
Check it out here.
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