Love all his work! But....

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I'm really sick of all these posts blaming DAVID GORDON GREEN for the mess that was PINEAPPLE EXPRESS... Any idiot with half a brain, knows this film's main flaw is the crappy screenplay written by ROGEN & GOLDBERG... They wrote this in high school for Christ's sake... How could this have been any good?

The 3 episodes of EASTBOUND & DOWN he directed were amazing, so I don't know what complaints can be made about his contributions to the HBO comedy... Everyone I've watched this show with has loved it and is really looking forward to the next season...

So regardless of the fact that PINEAPPLE EXPRESS was a disappointment, I still give props to DGG for working outside the drama genre...

Like I said, I liked Pineapple Express and Eastbound. But, it doesn't come close to the genius work of his dramas. Just hope he doesn't stick with comedy is all. Plus I think Rogan is a great writer. He is the funniest man in America right now. I just think anyone could have directed Pineapple. It didn't really seem to have the Gordon Green touch to it.

He's awesome at what he does. His earlier stuff is way different than EaD and PE, and he didn't even write those projects anyway.

I think there are some wonderful moments of comedy in George Washington and All the Real Girls. Just not sure DGG knows how to pace a comedy... but, yeah, it's hard to say based on Pineapple Express, because the script was kind of a mess. It was a decent movie, and there are some great bits, but obviously I'd like to see DGG make more masterpieces, instead of just "decent movies."

Just what exactly is going on with him, anyway? Has he sold out completely?

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Tacos. Fettucine. Linguine. Martini. Bikini.

"""I'm really sick of all these posts blaming DAVID GORDON GREEN for the mess that was PINEAPPLE EXPRESS... Any idiot with half a brain, knows this film's main flaw is the crappy screenplay written by ROGEN & GOLDBERG... They wrote this in high school for Christ's sake... How could this have been any good?"""

If that's true, does it mean David Gordon Green has less than half a brain? Or did he just not even read the script. The FACT is, David Gordon Green signed up to do Pineapple Express. He shares responsibility for it, whether it's blame or praise.

Personally, I've always felt DGG was a good (not great) director with a sense for drama and a better writer than director. I really like George Washington and All the Real Girls and I think Snow Angels is flat-out amazing but I think the really magic that hit me was his dramatic sense as far as crafting stories for films. I'd love to see what would happen if he wrote screenplays for other directors as well.

That being said, I think he is a solid director of drama. Just not that great. It's not like his early work was perfect. Some people were just very lenient because they tend to be extremely forgiving of "indie stuff" and make it out to be greater than it really is for some *beep* up reasons.

As for Pineapple Express, I didn't like it personally but it seems to be a typical comedy to me. There are more misses than hits in that genre. It's a tough genre to write for or direct, IMO.

Overall, I agree with you, but an interesting little side note . . . you can't really cite "George Washington" for an example of David Gordon Green's writing, for better or worse. I have the privaledge of attending the same film school as him, where not only have I met him twice and talked to him about George Washington, but the editor on that film used to teach at the film school. According to both him and the editor (Steve Gonzalez), the script they had was more of an outline, both dialogue AND action were constantly being changed right on set moments before shooting or the dialogue was adlibbed completely, and they both told me that the story really only developed and came together in the editing room.

Don't get me wrong, I still like DGG's writing, but it's interesting to know that sometimes the best stories in film were actually written completely different.