Technology & MSG

Jul 24th, 2008 by Alex

I received an invitation to an advance screening of Pineapple Express last night. The movie opens officially on August 6th, so how could I resist? The screening was held in The Charles Theatre’s largest theater, complete with MIB-sized ventilation air ducts. I don’t know why I noticed them, but I like the way they look.

News flash! There was also a JWER sighting. More at 11, after the rant and spoiler-free review!

There were a bunch of seats “reserved for reviewing press only” in which were parked the butts of movie critics, promotional people, and their respective SOs. The movie critics were amusing, conversing about technical details of other recent releases (such as how some director choose to shoot the scenes at a downward angle to prevent the city skyline from being in view and giving away the location of the shoot). Very professional.

The promotional people weren’t as amusing, bitching about anything and everything imaginable in a Valley Girl fashion. It started with the seating arrangement to the comfort of the seats.

“I know it’s old, and that’s like the thing here. I hate places like this, there’s no stadium seating and whatever.”

Jesus, then leave already. No one forced you into the seat. You could stand, but then you wouldn’t get to sit in your reserved seat. I figure I’m being half as bitchy as they were, but I just can’t understand why you’d want to promote movies if you didn’t like going to the theater. It’s like being a chauffeur for a living but not liking being in cars. I’m pretty sure I’ve got sneakers with more maturity.

Next it was the promotional notepads that they were given to make notes in. They clearly weren’t weren’t good enough, shaped like pineapple with a big bite out of it. As if the bite out of the bottom somehow made them less functional. Seriously, that was a real complaint. One girl was complaining that she had to do some sort of post-showing report, but that she might have to use someone else’s connectivity due to the weather.

“It’s not like I have an Internet to send it in.”

Heaven forbid your job requires some effort.

Flash! JWER was seen at the concession stand, buttering his popcorn.

Fortunately everyone piped down as soon as the reel started. One great thing about screenings is that there’s no previews. Not even the theater announcements, although the ones featuring Baltimore-based director John Waters are pretty amusing.

The movie itself was extremely funny. Hysterical. I honestly can’t conceive of how they come up with this stuff. There was a loud man whose guffawing belly laugh was contagious as far away six rows away. It could be the next big stoner comedy, bigger than Dude Where’s My Car and Harold & Kumar. Why, you ask? Because in addition to two guys smoking dope and running around hysterically, there’s violence. Lots of it, especially in the second half. That being said, I don’t know if I’d pay money to see it. It’s dumb. That is the point, but I’d much rather catch it on DVD or On Demand. Despite being an odd pairing, Seth Rosen and James Franco (in a different sort of role) were excellent together as the leading duo. The acting itself is fair, but the thing is about the laughs. You really won’t notice, though I did notice that one of the larger plot lines (or what I thought was one) went absolutely nowhere. The soundtrack selection was all over the map in a funky sort of way; lots of older music, perhaps to avoid royalties? At several points I noticed my cheeks were sore, left thinking “no way I can’t believe that just happened.” There’s nothing at the end of the credits.

This short and abrupt review was brought to you by the oracle at Red Lobster.