Drillbit Taylor (2008, Steven Brill)

Aaaand the Apatow comedy brand barrels full-steam ahead. This time around, three put-upon kids hire Owen Wilson-- a vagrant conman masquerading as a troubled veteran with a master's in ass-kicking-- to ward off their high-school intimidator, a wild-eyed, legally emancipated ("he's above the law!") neo-bully named Filkins. It's a PG-13 high school comedy-- you'd be right to be skeptical.

But Drillbit Taylor isn't nearly as bad as the general public would have you believe. While certain scenes may remind you of an edited-for-tv Superbad-- that's right, the gangly awkward kid and the chubby motormouth even have their own McLovin-- there's startling enjoyment to be found here. Sure, the best gags aren't up to even the throwaways in Pineapple Express or older sib Superbad, but of the recent litany of flicks with Judd Apatow's inimitable fingerprints on it, it's right up there with Walk Hard in the category of "not a classic, but better than Zohan."

This movie hinges on the kids. Owen tries-- he's always fun to watch, isn't he? well, except for I Spy-- but he's not really the star of this particular show. The kids are the surprising element here-- engaging, full of heart, and funny. Very funny, in fact. Jonah Hill-in-training Troy Gentile is the show-stealer here-- one part foul (PG-13 foul, at least) know-it-all, one part gangsta posturing-- but Nate Hartley has a few fantastic moments as Gentile's gawky partner-in-crime. He's the movie's soul when it's all over with-- his performance is the most heartfelt, the most real. Also, the Junior McLovin here is the creepy son from The Ring. Even Alex Frost is great as the bully. He gets this scary look in his eyes like someone told him he was the villain in the new X-Men movie, but the contrast kinda works here. His bad guy is one who earns his inevitable comeuppance. He has this great standoff with Hartley, mid-movie, that actually warrants some excitement, and it's cool.

It's ashame, kind of, that the adults are so forgettable. The greener thespians here run rings around their seasoned counterparts. Wilson fares the best, but he's hardly at the top of his game, and elsewhere, lots of exciting names show up in pretty flat minor roles. Stephen Root gets a few chuckles as an oblivious principal, but Leslie Mann, so memorable in Knocked Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin, here disappoints as Wilson's drooling galpal, disappointingly expendable. Even Danny McBride, a scene-stealer in high-profile comedies like Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder, fails to land a good laugh. Actually, it's Frank Whaley, of all people, in a fleeting cameo as an auditioning bodyguard, who makes the biggest impression, but after his twitchy turn as a creepster motel owner in Vacancy, I'm lobbying for more roles for that dude anyway.

The script begs some inevitable questions. Drillbit's substitute teacher charade becomes even more preposterous when some of his homeless buddies show up for work, and even the film's central conceit is suspect: what's more emasculating, taking your knocks from a bully, or having to call in the adult cavalry to stave him off? Still, the movie's a lot more charming than I would've anticipated, and as lesser Apatow (weird how we still call them Apatow movies when he's only directed two features, huh? dude's got the comedic world under his thumb right now), it works in that dialed-down, reduced-raunch Superbad sorta way.

Plus, flick gets major props for: 1.) avoiding the obvious, mawkish, "violence solves nothing" sentiment that similar movies would've taken, and 2.) featuring a rap battle as a central turning point. If more movies had rap battles, cinema would flourish a little bit more, I think. Might've even liked The Happening if it'd had a rap battle.

Rating: *** (out of five)

Pineapple Express (2008, David Gordon Green)

Since seeing this over the summer, I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoyed Pineapple Express. Not quite-- there were some very funny moments I remember from opening weekend, and besides I just kinda de facto like anything the Apatow factory churns out-- but almost. Man, though, watching this thing again, there's a solid chance this is the best thing the Apatow/Rogen dynasty has put out yet.

It's certainly the most exciting. In David Gordon Green, this ribald troupe has gotten their hands on their most accomplished director-- he of gorgeous indie dramas George Washington and Undertow-- and he doesn't disappoint, directing with startling flair an cross-pollination of comedy and action, two genres you wouldn't imagine him keeping in his back pocket.

Seth Rogen, not content to rest on his laurels ever since Apatow launched him, Steve Carrell-style, into the leading-man stratosphere, gives one of the funniest performances of his career thus far; of course, James Franco and Danny McBride vie for title of "most scenes stolen", and they're both tremendous. Franco's shockingly adept at comedy, and his friendly drug dealer is one of those performances that makes you wish the Oscars respected comedy a little more. McBride's the revelation, of course-- his is such a fully-formed character, full of awesome little tics and seemingly throwaway lines and twisting allegiances and motivations, that one can only imagine his star trajectory has to be next.

The ensemble does well too-- the Apatow-produced movies tend to surround themselves with formidable supporting casts, and Pineapple Express proves no exception, pitting the Rogen/Franco duo against bickering thugs played by "Office" scene-stealer Craig Robinson and the inimitable Kevin Corrigan, and a pair of corrupt weed-conglomerate figureheads in Gary Cole and Rosie Perez. Perez and Cole bring professionalism to the forefront, locating that delicate balance between nefarious and hilarious.

I dunno, I suppose a big draw to this film for me-- other than it being hilarious-- is the way it handles that balance. It's funny, at times really REALLY funny, but there's good filmmaking in here: there's an exciting, expertly-filmed car chase (which is also hilarious), a series of surprisingly violent deaths near the end (occasionally hilarious), and, best of all, an epic fight between Rogen and Cole, which seems to gun for how exactly a fight between these two would go down in real life, in all its awkward, bumbling glory. Of course, there's that gratuitous John Woo shot of Seth leaping from the heavens, limbs askew, but that's part of what's so gratifying in a film like this-- it needles in little loving odes to action films while providing some mild satire, and it takes that sort of loving touch to effectively spoof. (Ask those Shaun of the Dead guys-- you can tell they really appreciate all the horror tropes, y'know? Same principle.)

It's really just a good job done all around, and it all adds up to what may be the principles' finest collabo. The mean streak is there, but all the congenial buddy comedy is too. In fact, Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg wrote Superbad, too, and you can tell-- the dynamic, the buddies embarking on wild misadventures, the sledgehammer-subtle comparison of sexual and best-bud relationships, it's all there. One can only hope they'll let that remain an enduring theme in future collaborations, as there's so few comedies out there that really, truly explore the bonds of friendship-- I mean, you can make a billion "bros before hos" comedies, but Rogen and company show before they tell. These relationships feel real, and that's worth its weight in comedy gold.

And make no mistake, Pineapple Express is comedy gold. The great film caper comedy is back with a vengeance, and I, for one, am in.

Rating: ****1/2 (out of five)