Critics are an easy target - you can start your rant by saying, “why don’t you create something instead of mocking what’s out there?”
An unfair assault, but a common one all the same.
Here’s a critique that hits closer to the truth. Critics tend to think too much alike. It’s the reason why every new Bob Dylan album gets rave reviews even though his voice currently sounds like he was shot, stuffed and brought back to life by Dr. Frankenstein. Acoustic albums are always better than the plugged-in versions, and even the worst Woody Allen movie will find a steady stream of defenders.
I fear the same is happening with “Pineapple Express,” the new Judd Apatow produced comedy starring Seth Rogen. The early reviews are mostly glowing - it’s like what I expected to write about the film before I actually saw it. But the finished product deserves a spanking, not a victory lap.
So what gives? Why are supposedly sophisticated movie critics tripping over each other to praise the “Pineapple?”
Two forces are at play. One - it’s a highly buzzed about Apatow project, and everyone expects it to be a late summer smash. And two - critics aren’t the coolest cats in the room. I should know - I’ve got the Dungeons & Dragons battle scars to prove it. But trashing a cutting edge stoner comedy would leave them feeling like the old guy who tells his neighbors to keep that darn music down.
Admitting the film just isn’t funny leaves them open to ridicule. It may not be a conscious decision to grade “Pineapple Express” on a curve, but I suspect it’s there all the same.
How else can you explain such a massive misfire drawing critical love?
(Photo: Seth Rogen and James Franco hide out from a vicious killer in the stoner comedy “Pineapple Express”)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Sonny Bunch 08.06.08 at 1:26 pm
Meh…I gave it a decidedly mixed review. I actually did find it very funny, in places, but the overall picture didn’t work for me. I think you’re basically right, though, in terms of the groupthink critics indulge in. It’s why movies like ‘Crash’ or ‘Babel’ get nominated for best picture when, five years later, no one can even remember what they were about.
cftoto 08.06.08 at 2:05 pm
The best laughs came in the trailer — the foot through the car windshield is priceless. But once again, the folk who edited the trailer had a better sense of timing than the film’s director. When I finally saw the “foot” scene in the film, it lacked the snap that the trailer sequence had. Odd.
Ken Bendor 08.06.08 at 4:18 pm
Speaking of critical groupthink, R.E.M. is another (one-time) iconic act that benefits from this; in fact, there was an online article regarding Rolling Stone’s tendency to review every new R.E.M. as a masterpiece(!)…this for a group that clearly hasn’t been the same since their drummer left and can’t sell out their (overpriced) concerts anymore…
cftoto 08.06.08 at 4:21 pm
Ken — REM was one of the examples I was going to cite but I wanted to keep the post short — great point. The public fell out of love with the band years ago … but critics remain in awe of their diminished chops. (though their newest single isn’t bad!)