Seth Rogen

God’s Vajoojoo Tastes Like Semi-Glorious ‘Pineapple Express’ in Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen Stoner Film

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:01:00 -0700

Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – If god had a vajoojoo, Judd Apatow and company think it’d taste something like smoking “Pineapple Express”. There’s no question “Pineapple Express” is ultimately a stoner film, but is it the ultimate stoner film of our decade?

Always the most difficult proposition in a comedy is maintaining its comedic pacing with consistency.

Dale Denton (Seth Rogen, standing) and Saul Silver (James Franco, being carried) are two lazy stoners running for their lives in “Pineapple Express”.
Photo credit: Dale Robinette

A comedy’s goal is to sidesplittingly laugh your socks off from start to finish (and even after the credits roll). So often, though, a semi-successful comedy will instead feel like a humorous rollercoaster replete with some ups and some downs due to the inability to maintain its “A”-game material in a consistent fashion.

“Pineapple Express” falls victim to the comedic consistency trap. While the story has its heart in the right place for a film that’s centered on reefer madness and the script successfully grows ever-more complex and ridiculous, the story needs to be sliced and diced.

For every two comedic lines that successfully land one falls short. While the film certainly has the beginnings of stoner-film greatness, it’s still sometimes stifled by lines that had the potential to be roundhouse knockouts and instead were crippled stumbles.

Saul Silver (James Franco, left), Red (Danny McBride, center) and Dale Denton (Seth Rogen, right) in “Pineapple Express”.
Photo credit: Dale Robinette

That said, everything successful about “Pineapple Express” comes in threes from its writing (Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg) and its primary actors (Seth Rogen, James Franco and Danny McBride).

There’s a lot of talk about James Franco playing against type for this role. Based on his performance, though, this shouldn’t be viewed as Franco playing against type. This should be viewed as Franco having found his type. For Franco, all other roles pale in comparison.

Despite his excruciatingly untalented performances in box-office monoliths “Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2” and “Spider-Man 3,” Franco’s drug-dealing, always-high demeanor in “Pineapple Express” proves he indeed has acting chops that have been otherwise been hidden away. All he needed was a little Mary Jane to deliver him from acting evil.

Dale Denton (Seth Rogen, left) and Saul Silver (James Franco, right) are two lazy stoners in “Pineapple Express”.
Photo credit: Dale Robinette

Now a painfully atrocious “Pineapple Express” performance by Rosie Perez – who hasn’t delivered a noteworthy performance since 1992’s “White Men Can’t Jump” (or 2001’s “Riding in Cars with Boys,” but that’s really stretching things) – without a doubt is the trippy film’s biggest buzzkill.

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View our full, high-resolution “Pineapple Express” image gallery.

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Gary Cole (her partner in crime) delivers an equally frightful performance. Amber Heard – a name you’ve likely never heard of before – continues trying to make her way in Hollywood after being bolstered by various “hot” ratings from magazines including Jane and Maxim.

Heard plays Rogen’s much younger high school girlfriend who fits with him just as much as a Mormon fits married to a Jew. Though this film is marketed with the burgeoning star power of James Franco and Seth Rogen behind the powerful comedic name of writer and producer Judd Apatow, we are not to forget Danny McBride.

Whether you loved McBride or hated him in “The Foot Fist Way” (or have never even heard of that film), “Pineapple Express” isn’t just the duo its advertising may have made you believe. McBride is the necessary tripod of this trio. Rogen co-wrote the story along with Apatow and Evan Goldberg (who also wrote “Superbad” along with Rogen).

“Pineapple Express,” which is directed by David Gordon Green and is written by Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow and Evan Goldberg, stars Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Rosie Perez, Amber Heard, Gary Cole and Kevin Corrigan. The film opened everywhere on Aug. 6, 2008.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Dr. Seuss’ ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ Heard Loudly Into Instant Children’s Classic

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:15:36 -0700

CHICAGO – One of Dr. Seuss’ most famous storybooks has finally been granted life with its self-titled animated feature “Horton Hears a Who!,” which involves a morally righteous elephant, philosophical timbre and Dr. Seuss’ ingenious lyrical rhymes.

A star-studded cast supports this vibrant tale and Dr. Seuss’ ethical elephant and morally slated advice about equality are well represented in this CG-animated adaptation.

“Horton Hears a Who!”.
Photo credit: IMDb

The elephant Horton (Jim Carrey) comes to the rescue of a speck crying for help as it floats by in the colorful jungle of Nool.

When Horton decides to help the speck even though he can’t see the Whos who inhabit it, the famous line “a person’s a person no matter how big or how small” comes into the film and sets the Suessian tone of the tale.

After Horton and the mayor of Whoville (Steve Carell) initiate communication, they work together to help save the planet of Whoville from total destruction.

When Horton discovers the speck, he is confronted by a law-enforcing kangaroo (Carol Burnett) who is a non-believer. She claims anything she can’t hear or see can’t be real.

As Horton’s determination to protect the speck is challenged by banana-shooting military monkeys, a bone-crushing vulture and an angry animal mob, the mayor of Whoville experiences similar mockery in his parallel world.

Isla Fisher in “Horton Hears a Who!”.
Photo credit: IMDb

The film jumps back and forth from the jungle of Nool to Whoville and creates an effective juxtaposition of the different animated cultures.

For instance, in Whoville everything always goes according to plan until their tiny world sets afloat and everything goes awry (with tremors, global warming and backward mishaps aplenty).

Meanwhile, the jungle of Nool starts off as a playful society and transitions into a fearful and angry place.

As the mad animal mob in Nool is about to destroy the speck of Whoville, the mayor of Whoville is able to bring his people together to make enough noise to be heard and save their tiny world.

Carrey and Carell are the star voices of the film and their bubbly wit and humor are perfect matches for their characters. While Carrey at times borders on hyper, writers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio translate his active energy into entertaining dialogue for the little guys.

Even though roles by Will Arnett, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hills are small, they are uniquely their own and add wonderful color to the film as a whole. Trendy jokes and references about MySpace, cell phones, condos and “I love the smell of bananas in the morning” are sprinkled throughout the film. Though they might go over the heads of kids, they’re not too over the top for adults.

Jonah Hill in “Horton Hears a Who!”.
Photo credit: IMDb

Big life lessons and philosophies are everywhere in this film. They give the movie a moral undertone that so many other children’s movies lack.

The excellent animation and even a sprinkling of japanimation can be credited to the creative directing of Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino.

They managed to not only keep consistency with Seuss’ original illustrations but also created new characters who meshed perfectly with the signature style.

While the crisp CG animations are enough to move this film into the cartoon greats category, also the all-star cast, hilarious wit and virtuous messages have instantly made “Horton Hears a Who!” into a children’s classic.

“Horton Hears a Who!” opens on March 14, 2008.

Click here for our full “Horton Hears a Who!” image gallery!

By ALLISON PITACCIO
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
allee@hollywoodchicago.com