SUMMERFEST '22: Double Feature Faves I

There are some movies I have to watch every year, and today's two I always do as a double feature. They don't have a lot in common (except that Danny McBride is in both), but I feel they have a certain kinship.

Pineapple Express (2008) (rewatch)

Trailers: Reefer Madness, Dude Where’s My Car?

Having seen this dozens of times now (including several double features with the next film), I’m sad

to report that some of the charm has worn off of this one for me. It could be that I can’t look at James

Franco the same, or that it’s bittersweet seeing Amber Heard in better times. I still really love the third

act and how insane it is, but it feels like it takes so long to get there. I mean, I know that meandering

and hang-out scenes are par for the course in stoner comedies. But this go-round I found myself

impatient to get past them and get to the action. Craig Robinson is still MVP. And that last scene in the

coffee shop is still my favorite scene and reminds me so much of the hobbits’ post-Ring commiseration

(and I’d still give anything for a parody version of that scene, with the hobbits exchanging war stories

like Dale, Saul and Red).

Tropic Thunder (2008) (rewatch)

Trailers: Son of Rambow, Apocalypse Now

This is as entertaining as ever. Having seen this multiple times as well, it seems impossible to believe that there was ever any mystery about who played Les Grossman. Yet I *know* I wasn’t aware until near the end of the movie the first time I saw it — maybe not even until the credits reveal. The skewering of movie star egos feels more relevant than ever (I cannot believe Tugg seriously thinks he has a relationship with that child just because he hands him a stick Oscar). And I think Downey Jr.’s performance still works, though obviously at the time the movie benefited from social media not being quite so huge yet and there not being all the Discourse before the movie even had a chance to come out. I do vividly remember that poster of him in blackface being everywhere before the movie came out (including a ginormous one hanging on the outside of Madison Square Garden), so I know there had to be Opinions about it. But at the time everyone was far more offended by the “full [r-word]” scene, which of course is still cringey as hell. Small detail I noticed this watch: British director Damien is wearing a Union Jack shirt, which feels more than a little on the nose.