Thoughts about Danny Mcbride
Danny Mcbride
That’s pretty big praise for a 30-year-old actor heretofore seen only in small roles in All the Real Girls, Hot Rod, and The Heartbreak Kid. But Danny McBride is already a cult hero to comedy insiders for his Ferrell-icious performance as a strip-mall tae kwon do instructor in a low-budget indie called The Foot Fist Way, which debuted at Sundance last year. It made the rounds to Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, and Ferrell himself, who helped secure a spring ‘08 release for the film as an executive producer. McBride will also costar in three of next year’s biggest studio comedies (Drillbit Taylor, Pineapple Express, and Tropic Thunder) and has shot a pilot for HBO (also produced by Ferrell) about a pro baseball player reduced to teaching PE at a middle school. 1
The Pineapple Express joint gets traced back to Saul and Dale and a bounty is put on their heads. Danny McBride is awesome in this movie. He?s generated plenty of buzz this year, thanks to Foot Fist Way, but this is the one that will put him on the map. 2
Get more from Ask-About-swicki.eurekster.com/Danny Mcbride
If you wanna compare this to Superbad, much like Forgetting Sarah Marshall is compared directly to Knocked Up, some of the same parallels apply. Pineapple Express is a more complicated vehicle, and fleshes out directions that Superbad only lightly touched on. Is that what the Apatow fans and uninitiated crave? As it stands, Pineapple Express is worth catching for yourself. The improv-heavy dialogue is snappy, James Franco is a revelation, Danny McBride is awesome as usual, and the action set pieces don’t wear out their welcome. A few of the fight/chase sequences go on for a few minutes too long, but when they work well (like an extended apartment fight between the three leads), they’re relentlessly fun. 3
One last thought on the box office potential of Pineapple Express: it will be really interesting to see if the film is hurt by the fact that another anticipated R-rated action comedy, Tropic Thunder, is opening one week later (August 15). Arguably, this same kind of timing is what has split the audiences right now between similar R-rated comedies Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. 4
It was really cool to work with Ben in The Heartbreak Kid as an actor, and then see him come onto Tropic Thunder as a director. He is the lead in that as well, but he is also directing this huge epic. It has been pretty incredible to see him wear all those hats at once. 5
That wouldn’t be the case, except that Danny McBride is fascinating to watch playing the bullying antihero. He parlayed this performance into major roles in two upcoming comedies, Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder. You’ll see more of him. 6
Keep in mind, this is a documentary about the movie being shot within the movie Tropic Thunder, and not a documentary about the movie you’ll actually be going to see on August 13. The more confused you are, the easier it will be to trick you into reading more Cinematical. Hear that (does a little Jedi mind stuff) you will read Cinematical. Oh yes, you will. 7
Owen Wilson, on the other hand, is pretty hilarious, even when he seems to be sleepwalking through some of the scenes. He is certainly at his most effective when he has high energy actors playing opposite him (ie. Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn), but he is so great at deadpan delivery and subtle timing that he really saves this movie from being a disaster. Judd Apatow’s wife Leslie Mann is also funny as his excitable love interest, and Danny McBride is perfect (although underused) as his dirtbag friend. 8
First-time director Jody Hill, who co-wrote the script with longtime friends McBride and Best and has a small role as another bizarro Tae Kwon Do dude, wrings several raunchy, deadpan laughs out of this premise. But the movie ultimately goes nowhere, and looks shoddy in a way that doesn’t even have a kitschy appeal. 9
Find more from Ask-About-swicki.eurekster.com/Danny Mcbride
Tags: action comedy, baseball player, chase sequences, cult hero, danny mcbride, eurekster, fleshes, forgetting sarah marshall, heartbreak kid, james franco, judd apatow, last thought, low budget, pineapple express, pro baseball, real girls, seth rogen, tae kwon, teaching pe, tropic thunder
Tags: action comedy, baseball player, chase sequences, cult hero, danny mcbride, eurekster, fleshes, forgetting sarah marshall, heartbreak kid, james franco, judd apatow, last thought, low budget, pineapple express, pro baseball, real girls, seth rogen, tae kwon, teaching pe, tropic thunder