Viewed, but not reviewed

The night before I saw this, I saw director David Gordon Green's 2004 film Undertow. Talk about a study in contrasts. Undertow is a brooding southern tale of greed, revenge and murder that was shot in just 30 days. It practically screams 'independent film'. Pineapple Express lists Apatow Productions in it's credits, is written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Superbad), and has a budget of $25 million dollars. I guess this is director Green's bid for the bigtime, and judging by the box office numbers, it looks like he's made it. I haven't seen 2007's Snow Angels, but perhaps it was a transitional step between Undertow and Pineapple Express. Whatever the case, there's certainly no trace of 'indie-ness' in this big budget action/comedy. So I guess the important question is whether Green has compromised his 'indie' values in his quest for Hollywood success. Undertow is a more intense, personal film but that's not to say that Pineapple Express doesn't have it's good points as well. Seth Rogen and James Franco make a great comedic team, and Danny McBride and Kevin Corrigan are also very good. But most of the laughs (and there are lots) come during the first half of the film, and the climactic gun battle at the farm seems like it could have come from any number of generic action films, and just goes on way too long. People getting killed just isn't that funny. And the scene near the end where Dale, Saul and Red are in the restaurant declaring their love for each other also goes on way too long, and is really quite pointless and kind of sickening. Where the hell was the editor when we needed him? I enjoyed the film overall, especially the first half, but some trimming definitely would have helped. And I'm fairly certain that David Gordon Green has better films yet to be made. I just hope his next one isn't Pineapple Express 2.