Lionsgate has released the first American Ultra red-band trailer for the upcoming-action comedy. Written by Chronicle scribe Max Landis and directed by Nima Nourizadeh (Project X), the story finds a stoner/sleeper agent (Jesse Eisenberg) and his girlfriend’s (Kristen Stewart) life disrupted when a government operation descends upon their small town with the aim of wiping the stoner out.

You can really feel the high concept (no pun intended) of taking a traditional spy-action-thriller film and then trying to give it a twist of making the lead characters stoners, but thankfully this still comes off as an amusing film. Nourizadeh looks like he has a knack for action filmmaking, the jokes are solid, and Topher Grace is clearly having a good time chewing the scenery as the villain.  Pineapple Express went over similar ground back in August 2008, and I wouldn't be surprised if American Ultra also found the same kind of success.

Check out the first American Ultra red-band trailer below. The film also stars Walton Goggins, Connie Britton, Bill Pullman, and Tony Hale and opens in theaters on August 21st.

Trailer via Lionsgate.

Here's the official logline for American Ultra:

A stoner and his girlfriend's sleepy, small-town existence is disrupted when his past comes back to haunt him in the form of a government operation set to wipe him out.

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