Sweet, Sweet Pineapple

I saw The Pineapple Express Wednesday and...loved it. And after reading some negative reviews today, I realized that I loved many things critics didn't like about the picture -- the shaggy pacing, the lack of quippy-joke-a minute banter (seriously, do we need another Dennis Miller sounding teenager -- yes Juno I'm talking to you "cha cha cha" -- on our screens?), the aimlessness (which is both fitting for potheads and at the same time, something I don't necessarily agree with since these guys, at least James Franco's wonderfully touching drug dealer Saul has some goals). I love the '80s touches from the music (Bell Biv DeVoe!) to Seth Rogen's car to the hit men's clothes and yet, it takes place in current times. And the pop culture references are real rather than hip. So great.

Though the picture is clearly sending up '80s action movies within the stoner genre, I find it interesting that no one (from what I've read anyway) has mentioned any kind of deeper message regarding drugs laws in this country. Not sure if Apatow (and the great David Gordon Green, creating a movie vastly different from George Washington or All the Real Girls but with some wonderful Green-like touches throughout) were making such a comment, but after (spoiler alert!) the entire barn blows up and Kevin Corrigan really can't make it to dinner on time, because of essentially, a plant...this idea came to mind. The criminalization of pot is as absurd as Rogen dueling Gary Cole with a marijuana light.

Also, Franco, Franco, Franco. I've been stumping for him ever since I witnessed his range on Freaks and Geeks. Too long he's been the smoldering bad boy of the big screen (and don't get me wrong, he's good at that), but here, he's a sweet, secretly complicated goofball you absolutely fall in love with. Without his oddly soulful, understated performance the movie wouldn't have worked. He's the heart of the picture. When he says he wants to make parks with septic areas for kids to shi* in, I effing believe him. With this, you totally get why Rogen comes to love him -- and truly, this movie plays like a love story between these two men. I damn near choked up when they were frolicking in the woods.

Can't wait to see it again. Also, Kevin Corrigan needs to be in more movies...And don't miss the Huey Lewis song when the credits roll. As my stoner friends would say (or that genius Amy Sedaris, who if I'm not mistaken is a pothead herself) -- good times, good times...

Read more Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun.

Comments

[CynAnne]

Excellent article, Kim! And I agree with you completely about James Franco..HE was the reason I watched "Spiderman 3" (and wept at the end), not that silly "Parker" boy (lol)..! ;) ...

[Mujokan]

This was a pretty big movie, with pretty big stars, which made over $40 million in five days. It got a lot of positive reviews, and plenty of other press. All this has made clear two things.

(1) Almost no-one sees weed as a dangerous drug
(2) There is incredible cognitive dissonance between (1) and the way weed is treated by the law.

It's farcical. No-one can come up with a decent argument for the current legal status of marijuana. (The "interstate commerce" argument the Supreme Court relied on to keep medical marijuana illegal in California is particularly ludicrous.)

While there is evidence it's not good for your health to smoke large amounts, particularly for some people, that has no bearing on the punishments handed down for smoking it. There are hundreds of more dangerous substances that are legal; and in any case there's no evidence prohibition deters use (rates are low in the Netherlands, and dropped in the UK when its classification was lowered).

I think we're all pretty clear on the waste of public resources and ruining of people's lives that arise from prohbition. It's counterproductive. A harm-reduction approach to drug abuse is the only policy that makes sense.

Weed is so commonplace and so close to harmless that everyone goes to Pineapple Express and laughs away but nobody stops to think that there may be someone sitting in a crowded jail cell a few miles away just for possession of this plant.

[Guitarsandmore]

You have a good website (sunset gun)! Keep it coming!

[SD61]

Sympathy and compassion for potheads? What? Like they're real people or something?

Dammit, I'm falling in love again. Please let me down easy, Kimmy Morgan.

[philtll]

Absolutely spot-on. I was shocked the movie didn't end with a PSA-style, camera-addressing bit with the 3 leads saying "All this could have been avoided...visit legalize.org" or something like that.

[EarthToZoey]

If we legalize marijuana, think of all the law enforcement officers who would be out of a job? My goodness, we couldn't allow that to happen! Of course, it's not their fault. They're just doing their job. Even though, illegal marijuana operations line the pockets of quite a few who know how to work the system.

The argument for legalization is strong. It is a mild narcotic that should be legal, taxed, and controlled. Allow communities to decide for themselves to allow the sale of the drug or not.

[FalconerHK]

To paraphrase the LEAP movie, by keeping it illegal we allow the drug dealers to decide to whom and where cannabis will be sold. Targeting 10 year-olds on the playground? Apparently the government would rather have that than the tax revenues and about 50% fewer people in lockup.

Let's start looking at this the way we look at alcohol. We prosecute the abusers and under the influence drivers and leave everyone else alone. Why not do the same for cannabis?

[RobertAndropolis]

Cannabis is not a narcotic, mild or otherwise. It is listed as a hallucinogen. Narcotics are opiate derivatives. To call cannabis a narcotic further stigmatizes it, as it has been from the '30s with the first U.S. drug czar Owsley.

[Edwestern]

That's Harry J. Anslinger! Owsley Stanley mass-produced LSD!

[pizzmoe]

It is remarkable and a sad reflection of our society that there are people in prison for smoking pot.

[fetacheese]

kim morgan, you're awesome. your posts are refreshing and insightful, and i never feel like i'm being beaten over the head with a point. pot laws are ridiculous. the entire war on drugs is ridiculous. and if i weren't stoned right now, i'd definitely do something about it. (that's probably the problem come to think of it--dang!) :)