The Judd Apatow comedy factory is at it again, cranking out yet another vehicle for slackers to get their share of laughs. In the tradition of “Superbad” and “Knocked Up,” incidentally two comedies in which Seth Rogen was either the star or writer or both, along comes “Pineapple Express” where Rogen wears multiple hats as a key player in front of and behind the camera. For such a busy guy, it’s interesting that he’s usually playing the goof or loafer with a serious lack of motivation.

Not surprisingly, “Pineapple Express” offers more of the same for Rogen in his role as Dale Denton, a giant loser with a serious fondness for weed. A disheveled process server who stalks his prey with a variety of costumes, Dale is not going anywhere in life, a point underscored by the fact that he’s dating barely legal high school girl Angie (Amber Heard).

Dale has a grudging business relationship with the laconic drug dealer Saul Silver (James Franco), deigning to visit his shabby apartment only to purchase some of the primo product. Unable to form complete thoughts into coherent sentences, Saul seems to be enjoying a rare new strain of marijuana called Pineapple Express.

Perhaps too stoned to know better, Saul appears only too willing to turn a business relationship into something more meaningful, if only to engage in some conversation beyond a transaction for illicit contraband.

While staking out a residence in an attempt to deliver a subpoena, Dale witnesses a cold-blooded murder committed by the city’s most dangerous drug lord, Ted Jones (Gary Cole), who’s assisted in this crime by a crooked cop (Rosie Perez).

Fleeing the scene of the crime in great haste, Dale drops the remnants of his Pineapple Express joint. This piece of smoking evidence, of course, is all that the evil drug lord and dishonest cop need to pick up a trail leading right back to the drug-dealing Saul.

When Ted’s goons arrive on the scene, Dale and Saul are suddenly thrust into a wild odyssey that puts them on the run, after discovering they are not just suffering from pot-induced paranoia. The long, weird journey to escape harm puts them in some awkward and often bloody, violent situations, such as when they confront drug middleman Red (Danny McBride), who’s only too eager to sell out his buddy Saul when pushed around by nasty, brutal thugs.

Only slightly less frightening is the encounter that the duo must endure by showing up for dinner at Amber’s house, since Dale had promised so many times to meet her parents (Ed Begley Jr. and Nora Dunn), who are in turn absolutely stunned and appalled by Dale’s erratic behavior. Of course, it’s absurd that Dale is going through this courtship effort when his life is in mortal danger.

For all their attempts at a getaway, Dale and Saul are slightly more consumed with a nearly insatiable desire to keep sampling the potency of Pineapple Express. This puts the loopy guys in more danger, though Dale appears more tuned into their predicament than the largely oblivious Saul. At one point, Saul thinks that hiding in a dumpster may be the best alternative to constant flight.

The charm, if that’s the appropriate word, of “Pineapple Express” is the developing friendship between the more uptight Dale and the perpetually unaware Saul. In a relationship forged by circumstances, these putative buddies have a weird, genial bond that makes them likable even when things get violently out of control in the climactic showdown with warring drug gangs.

Chemistry (an interesting word to use when talking about a drug-fueled plot) is very much present between Seth Rogen and James Franco. These guys are fun to watch, even in the most stressed-out situations. “Pineapple Express” is probably the best stoner comedy since the first “Harold and Kumar” movie, when the love of weed made the principals crave White Castle burgers. Meanwhile, Judd Apatow is just hoping that the target audience will crave this brand of humor, and most likely the younger crowd will prove more accepting of the elements of gross-out comedy mixed with violence.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

Since the film reviewed this week is a Judd Apatow comedy, maybe it is only fitting to bring to your attention the DVD release of the raunchy teen comedy “Legacy,” the story of three sorority beauties who will have everyone watching their backs.

Haylie Duff stars as Lana Stevens, the hottest coed at the Omega Kappa house, who’s forced to accept one of the most unpopular girls on campus as her new sorority sister. But when this geeky pledge is found dead at a party, Lana and her two best friends become prime suspects in a murder investigation, lead by the intense and determined Detective Strasburg (Tom Green).

Full of tortured laughs, catfights, sex and murder, “Legacy” sounds just right for the Apatow crowd.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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If anything, Kevin Costner, as the star and co-producer, picked the right time for a comedy about politics where the future of the nation hangs in the balance, based on the vote of one guy intellectually unqualified to cast a vote in any election, let alone that for our nation’s next president.

“Swing Vote,” resurrecting the spirit of Frank Capra, works up a mild satire of our electoral system, where an ordinary man is called upon to display the kind of wisdom and thoughtfulness he has never possessed in his life.

Thankfully, the politics is fictional, even though the battle for the presidency comes down to a tight match between Republican incumbent President Andrew Boone (Kelsey Grammer) and Democratic challenger Donald Greenleaf (Dennis Hopper).

Seeking a relatively evenhanded approach to political persuasions, both candidates are solid if unremarkable as candidates. All the nasty stuff is left to their overheated campaign managers, both of whom are the epitome of sharks in search of the next political kill.

On the Democratic side, it’s Art Crumb (Nathan Lane), an operative desperate to win at all costs since his track record has been a losing one. Republican Martin Fox (Stanley Tucci) is the caricature of a slick campaign manager.

In the dust-blown small town of Texico, New Mexico, Bud Johnson (Kevin Costner) is an apathetic, beer-slinging, lovable loser coasting through life. Unreliable and incompetent, Bud can’t even hang on to his miserable job on the assembly line at the egg factory.

The one bright spot in his life is his precocious, overachieving 12-year-old daughter Molly (Madeline Carroll, stealing every scene in the movie). Surprisingly civic-minded, Molly pesters her indifferent father to vote in the presidential election. Of course, he promises her to show up at the polling place at the end of the day.

Leaving the local tavern that evening, Bud passes out in his truck, and the disheartened Molly takes it upon herself to attempt to vote in his place. A strange set of circumstances causes the voting machine to freeze before Bud’s vote is counted. Ordinarily, this would matter little, but the presidential election comes down to a dead heat, where New Mexico’s five electoral votes will make the difference.

Even more extraordinary is that the results in New Mexico are deadlocked in a very improbable tie. This causes election officials to determine that Bud’s vote must be recast in order to break the logjam.

The interesting thing about New Mexico is that in 2000 Al Gore beat George W. Bush by a scant 366 votes for the five electoral votes, the closest tally of any state. So maybe this deadlock in “Swing Vote” is not so far off the mark.

In any case, Bud’s identity as the deciding voter is soon compromised. One of the funniest things is when the media descends on the small town in droves, taking up a vigil outside Bud’s trailer park home and yelling questions at him as if he were Tom Cruise on the red carpet at a movie premiere.

Since Bud has 10 days in which to cast his ballot, the candidates, political advocacy groups and the media hordes blanket the New Mexico town in a flurry of activity. Some of the funny political stuff is when the candidates start pitching messages at Bud in attempt to curry favor, even if it means tossing aside core principles.

For all of the media frenzy and political posturing, “Swing Vote” really comes down to the shaky relationship between Bud and Molly, and everything else is just wrapped into a number of subplots.

More than anything, the disillusioned Molly wants her father to become a responsible citizen and participant in civic affairs. Of course, she loves him dearly, in spite of his many faults, and wants to protect him from the predatory schemers.

Madeline Carroll’s Molly is something like Tatum O’Neal’s precocious little girl in “Paper Moon,” though not a cynical con artist. Molly’s cynicism is reserved for those who would take advantage of her father, including local TV reporter Kate Madison (Paula Patton), who’s just too eager to score a big-time network news job.

“Swing Vote” alternately mocks the political system and seeks to impart the significance of a single vote, even if the decision is in the hands of a complete nincompoop. Humor is mined from the political pandering of the candidates and the bluster and bravado of blowhard pundits (with real-life ones like Chris Matthews and James Carville pontificating on the fictional election). But the best moments of “Swing Vote” are between Molly and Bud, the way it should be.

DVD RELEASE UPDATE

I was thinking of tacking on a new DVD release with a political theme. “The Executioner’s Song: Director’s Cut,” shining a spotlight on the revival of capital punishment in the late 1970s may be the best, if only, bet.

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Norman Mailer, “The Executioner’s Song” stars Tommy Lee Jones in an Emmy Award-winning performance as the first person in the United Sates to be executed since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.

It’s based on the real-life story of Gary Gilmore, beginning with his release from prison, soon after which he embarked on a crime spree resulting in two murders.

After a widely publicized trial in which he was sentenced to death, Gilmore refused all appeals and was executed in 1977 by a firing squad.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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I am referring to AMC’s “Mad Men,” a very stylish period piece about the advertising world in Manhattan at the dawn of the Kennedy era. Heretofore, AMC was probably best known for its seemingly endless supply of classic Hollywood movies. With 16 nominations for a celebrated drama series, AMC just may be moving up in the TV world.

Now, many of you may be wondering what the fuss is all about, considering so few people have probably watched the series at all. “Mad Men” became the darling of critics everywhere, and recently the Television Critics Association (TCA) bestowed three awards on AMC’s freshman series “Mad Men,” including Program of the Year, Outstanding New Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Drama.

Keep in mind that the TCA, unlike the Emmy Awards, has only nine categories for awards, and “Mad Men” was very unlikely to win in a category like children’s programming or news and information. My guess is that you had no idea the TCA gave out awards anyway.

I never like to fall in line with the herd of critics blathering and raving about a particular series, but “Mad Men” is really fascinating in so many ways that I am irresistibly drawn to the second season that started July 27. If you miss the start, keep in mind that cable networks always run their original programs multiple times, thus saving you the trouble of recording shows for later viewing.

Oh, by the way, “Mad Men” also won the Golden Globes earlier this year for Best Television Drama Series and Best Actor in a Drama Series for Jon Hamm. The aforementioned Mr. Hamm is the star of the show, playing the very dapper Don Draper, creative director of the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency.

On a superficial level, Don Draper has an idyllic life, working in a glamorous industry and having a model family, including his pretty wife Betty (January Jones), a former professional model. Beneath the glossy surface is an entirely different story, since Draper has a double life and a secret past that sometimes bubbles up into more public view.

Last season, every episode left one anxious to see the next, anticipating more layers of the onion to be peeled. The greatest fascination with “Mad Men” is that most of the action took place in the shark-infested waters of the Madison Avenue corporate headquarters.

At the end of the first season, Draper was blackmailed by ambitious young account executive Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) and, in the process, Don’s true identity was finally revealed.

In the second season, the newly-promoted Draper struggles to stay ahead of the young bucks nipping at his heels, while dealing with the entanglements in his personal life. The sneaky Pete Campbell is someone to keep an eye on, as he will certainly maneuver for advantage in the corporate pecking order.

The 1960s era setting for the corporate world is highly charged by sexual shenanigans and seduction, and as such, some of the secretaries are fodder for the kind of harassment that is not only politically incorrect but legally actionable today.

Draper’s former assistant Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) proved her talent by becoming a junior copywriter, but not before succumbing to an unfortunate office fling. As head of the secretarial pool, the attractive Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks), a real femme fatale, is gifted at office politics, but she’s had a dangerous affair with Sterling Cooper partner Roger Sterling (John Slattery).

Fascinating to watch for so many reasons, “Mad Men” looks at the societal issues and culture of the early 1960s through the prism of a corporate world where lust, power and ambition run rampant. The show’s characters, in large or small roles, offer a range of interesting perspectives on cultural mores.

Restless and often moody, Draper smokes and drinks too much. Actually, just about everybody is smoking and drinking, almost to extremes. Sexism is rampant, and hardly any male employee is above flirting and sexual harassment. The devious Pete Campbell, a recent newlywed, sexually pursued Draper’s assistant Peggy, while treating most women with condescension.

“Mad Men” is very deserving of the Emmy Awards nominations for such categories as outstanding art direction, cinematography and costumes. This is a show with an incredible visual appeal, where the producers have taken great care to create an authentic look for the early 1960s.

Though the second season should prove compelling, it would seem essential to be familiar with the entire first year. If you missed all the AMC reruns, the entire first season has been released on DVD.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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I always thought some of these obscure nations had little value beyond creating some nice postage stamps for philatelists to enjoy, but they are sending athletes into competition. Now is the time to brush up on geography.

Speaking by way of satellite to a gathering of the nation’s TV critics recently, Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics, announced that he’s “awed by the enormity of what’s going on” in Beijing, particularly because the NBC family will provide a record 3,600 hours of coverage, at least 2,900 hours of it live.

Considering that NBC paid $894 million for the rights fee for broadcast coverage in the United States, one would hope that Ebersol is enthusiastic about the 17 days and nights of what he calls “unscripted drama.”

You may ask how NBC can provide 3,600 hours of coverage. It’s a fair question in light of the fact that it would take 90 weeks at a regular 9 to 5 job to watch everything. I don’t think I can spare that much time, but it works for NBC Universal, because they will run coverage on NBC, USA, CNBC, MSNBC and Telemundo.

Of course, NBC’s primetime coverage will focus on the prime traditional sports of swimming, diving, gymnastics and beach volleyball, with Bob Costas again acting as the primetime host. I am not kidding about this, but even the Oxygen network will carry nightly programming on gymnastics, plus synchronized swimming and the equestrian category. Only the Sci-Fi Channel is not getting into the act.

Even with more than a half-dozen networks and cable outlets, NBC Universal doesn’t have enough hours in the day to become the most ambitious single media project in history. So this is where NBCOlympics.com comes into the picture, providing additional competition footage but also being the venue for more information about the schedules, listings, news and biographies of the athletes. This Internet destination will take every sport and offer it on-demand, while also offering the best of daily TV coverage as encores.

There is a 12-hour time difference between Beijing and New York. As you know, in the media world, New York is the center of the universe, so the folks at NBC somehow finagled commitments from the International Olympic Committee to secure certain finals at 9 or 10 in the morning in China so that they would go on primetime live in New York. Ebersol told the TV critics that prime coverage would be live on the East Coast and in the Central time zone, leaving the rest of us out here on the left coast to get our Olympics on a time delay.

“Historically, we have always shown the Olympics on tape on the West Coast,” said Ebersol, noting that roughly 81 to 82 percent of all households in the United States are in the Central and Eastern time zones.

California may be the largest state in the union (we have the electoral votes to prove it), but we don’t matter as much to the network bigwigs. Actually, they are taking us for granted, because as Ebersol noted, people on the West Coast “love sports so much, and they know when they want to watch it, and that’s in primetime.” After extensive research, he figured out most of us are employed and can’t get home in time to watch something at 4 o’clock.

The NBC executives obviously have high hopes for the Beijing Olympics. Noting that the Chinese were second to the Americans on the gold medal chart in Athens in 2004, NBC host Bob Costas told the TV critics that “when Yao Ming leads the Chinese (basketball) team against the Americans in their very first game in the second day of competition of the Olympics, this is going to be like a Super Bowl atmosphere.” Sensing that he might be succumbing to hype that often afflicts sports announcers, Costas followed up by saying “that is not an overstatement.”

On the other hand, Ebersol seems to have picked up the hyperbolic fever. He thinks the Chinese curiosity about the Games is not just about sports. “China’s new to the world in terms of any level of openness,” he claims, and then goes on to say that in the seven years NBC has been in business with Chinese he “clearly sees change.”

Ironically, an AP news report claims the Chinese are backtracking on a promise of open press coverage, and that they have placed blocks on Internet sites in the Main Press Center and venues where reporters will work. Hoping or thinking change is afoot in China is one thing, but it’s a hard notion to sell in a repressive society.

Politics aside, let’s hope we can share Bob Costas’ belief and fervent wish that the opening ceremonies, based on what he has been told by people privileged to have seen the early plans, will be “uber-spectacular.” Curiosity will probably take hold of me on Aug. 8.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

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Rising Stars Competition is a multi-band, multi-genre competition in which musicians from Lake and Mendocino counties will be competing for prizes donated by area merchants.

This daylong event will encompass as many musical genres as possible showcasing the often- unheard talents of musicians of all ages.

Event organizers Cherie Sheraque and Mary Chadwick have partnered with Russian River Records to provide a venue for these musicians to play and bring the public in to enjoy the talents in our communities.

Bands from all genres are encouraged to enter this competition by going to the Web site at http://www.risingstarscompetition.com and submitting their entry. Entry forms can also be obtained from Ukiah Music Center and Dig Music in Ukiah.

Bands will be placed in divisions according to their genre of music and be judged on an individual basis with each judge scoring individual acts on stage performance and presence, talent and audience reaction. Prizes will be awarded to the winners in each genre with overall winners receiving the grand prize of studio time at Russian River Records.

Bands are also encouraged to add themselves to the competition Myspace at http://myspace.com/risingstarscompetition.

Businesses and groups are needed to sponsor this event through various levels of sponsorship opportunities. For sponsoring this event, businesses will receive promotional advertising on Kwine/ Max Radio and other radio stations, newspapers and printed fliers placed throughout the two counties. Businesses will receive higher levels of promotion based upon the level of donation.

Sponsors will also be recognized through banners at the event. Sponsorships and donations of prizes are gratefully accepted. Those interested in sponsoring this event can learn more about sponsorship by visiting the Web site at http://www.risingstarscompetition.com or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The venue for this event is provided by Russian River Records. Ken Ingels, owner of Russian River Records and long-time supporter of The Boys and Girls Club of Ukiah has built a brand new venue in Ukiah and has graciously donated the use of his facility for this event. The public is invited to attend this event for a suggested donation of $5 for the Boys & Girls Club.

Limited food vending spaces are available for rent to groups or businesses wishing to rent them. Inquiries about booth spaces may be directed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Local musicians II Big and Faded At Four will also provide entertainment during this competition. Though neither band will be competing in this event, they will be lending their support to this fund-raiser by performing for the audience. II Big will perform during the afternoon and Faded At Four will perform before the winners are announced.

This showcase of talent is an effort to promote awareness of all of the musical talent in the area along with helping the Boys and Girls Club of Ukiah continue their much-needed program for the youth. Musicians, businesses and organizations are encouraged to participate in some way to help keep the music alive and keep the doors of the Boys & Girls Club of Ukiah opened.

Information can be obtained at the website, through email or through calling Mary at 272-6514.

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