Tropic Thunder vs. Pineapple Express

Two of the supposedly biggest comedies of the summer squared off last weekend, and I got to see both. So let's stack it up:

We've got the Apatow production that was written by and stars the overrated Seth Rogen (yeah, I'm officially sick of him). He likes to brag about how he wrote these scripts in high school and Hey! Guess what? It shows. Every moment of Pineapple Express felt like a cheap version of another film, and I know all films are kinda that way, but this was the worst I've seen in a while. In fact, if you gave me a week, I bet I could remake the film scene for scene, constructing it only out of the scenes it ripped off.

The film is lazily bad to begin with, Seth Rogen writing in a plush 18-year-old blonde to play opposite his 25-year-old stoner slob who dresses in costume to hand out court summons, then says (get ready for it!), "You got served." Holy shit, if I found out my sister was dating this character I'd put a baseball bat to his mouth before getting a chance to think about it.

Speaking of violence, that brings me to the rest of the film. When the third act strikes, it moves from lazy to aggressively bad. By now the screen is filled with the usual Apatow suspects who mill around camera whether or not they actually need to be there. The insult really comes when the film tries to slump into a meta-film commentary. The type of concept that films like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and even Adaptation had pulled off with such great care, forming their films within a coherent aesthetic, is attempted here slovenly and in vain. The faux-ultraviolence comes off as absurd, unfunny, and shitty. Nothing remotely clever is attempted in the climax, and the violence feels like a crutch. This movie didn't really look too great in the trailers, and the full movie managed to confirm my fears. I will say the saving grace is Danny "Foot Fist Way" McBride, who stole the show here and in Tropic Thunder. Which brings me to the next film.

Tropic Thunder. Let's pretend I'm in charge. Take the official poster and replace Stiller, Black, and Downey, with McBride, Cruise, and... McConaughey. You heard me. These are the reasons why this film needs to be seen. Maybe not McConaughey, but this Cruise cameo folks have been talking about? I'll say first, it's not a cameo, it's a full role, a role I didn't see coming and couldn't prepare for. Cruise, who plays a hardcore power producer, spews some of the most crass, unclever dialogue, but still manages to put me in convulsive laughter in the process. But the scary thing is this, Cruise doesn't mug for the cameras here. He's not playing silly. There's something terrifyingly deadpan about his psycho business man. I am dead serious when I say that had this this character been pasted into some Ridley Scott vehicle or other straight-faced film, people would be whispering Oscar right now. Forget Collateral, this is Cruise's first transformational role since Born on the 4th of July.

Overall, Tropic Thunder wins in my book because, instead of trying to defend any notion of its own sincerity, it kicks it in the back, sending it right off the ledge, leaving only total absurdity and nonsensical laughter.

Pineapple Express 3.5

Tropic Thunder 7.0