Pineapple Express

I really liked half of Pineapple Express. I don’t really know what to do with that half. Do I recommend a film where only half the movie works and the other half is a clunky mess? It’s a shame really. Not that the good half was genius or anything, I just found myself laughing more. The story is pretty simple. Dale (Seth Rogen) is a lazy pot-smoking process server that hangs out with Saul, his equally lazy drug dealer (James Franco). Funny. Dale sees Saul’s dealer (Gary Cole) kill someone, so they are on the run. Kinda funny. People get kidnapped and now they are off to rescue each other in high action fashion. Not funny. There were some funny lines throughout (Danny McBride’s Red has a great Daewoo comment) but the story goes nowhere. Maybe I’m just not used to Cheech & Chong filmmaking.

The best part of Pineapple Express is the chemistry between Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Superbad) and James Franco (Spiderman, Flyboys). Their scenes in Saul’s apartment are full of stoner goodness. As I have probably said before (without looking up past reviews), I really like what Seth Rogen brings to the table. He always has these characters that are smart but are too lazy to use their intelligence, so he just ends up mocking others. I think most people are surprised by the humour of James Franco after seeing his annoying turn as Harry Osborne in the Spiderman series, but if you check out his early work in the Judd Apatow produced Freaks and Geeks, you’ll have a whole new frame of reference. I’ve been watching Freaks and Geeks again this summer and the camaraderie between Rogen and Franco is undeniable. Even when the movie adds the incredibly dim Red into the mix, it still works. I like how one critic called Red the McLovin of Pineapple Express. It's so true.

The ‘on the run’ portion of this film has its ups and downs. The pot-enhanced paranoia works well. I kind of wish they weren’t being chased at all but only thought they were. I know that plot device sounds close to Dave Foley’s The Wrong Man comedy, but I think it would have worked even better. You could still have many of the scenes. The leg through the police car windshield scene still works if Saul and Dale think they’re being chased by cops. It’s this real world danger that ultimately brings the movie down, in my opinion.

I know that writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were trying to mix stoner comedy with highly explosive action but I just don’t think it melded well. Some of the fights go over the top in a funny way but there is far too much pain going on. It would have worked better for me if Saul, Dale and Red had zero fighting capabilities but thought they were awesome and ended up getting beaten up. But then our ‘heroes’ would be dead and no one likes that to happen in a comedy. I just thought the ending fighting sequence dragged the film down. This is another Apatow comedy that goes twenty minutes too long. It’s a sad trend.

So I guess I can’t really recommend Pineapple Express as a film that needs to be watched in the theatre. Sure there are some action sequences but it’s not like it’s Michael Bay style. Maybe rent this one when it comes out on DVD. And don’t rent it for date night as Pineapple Express is definitely aimed way more at guys than girls. I’m also guessing those who smoke pot will enjoy this movie far more than I did. (I don’t do drugs, by the way.) I thought it was funny, just not that funny. But it’s probably better than Half Baked.