Pineapple Express

Directed By: David Gordon Green

Written By: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg

Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Kevin Corrigan, Craig Robinson, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, and Bill Hader

Director of Photography: Tim Orr, Editor: Craig Alpert, Production Designer: Chris Spellman, Original Music: Graeme Revell

Rated: R for pervasive language, drug use, sexual references and violence

    In what will be the final Judd Apatow production for an entire year, Pineapple Express has quite a lot riding on it. Apatow brought back Superbad writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and told them to write an action film where the main characters were in fact stoners, like Brad Pitt in True Romance. Then he filled his cast with Rogen and finally making a comeback to his Freaks & Geeks origins James Franco. And to top it all off, Apatow had David Gordon Green, the indie auteur of Snow Angels and All the Real Girls, put in the directing chair.

    Like most stoner films, Pineapple Express is probably designed better for a home viewing experience where moviegoers can appropriately change their mood for the film through substance abuse. But for what it is, Apatow and Green have a film that is quite hilarious. Even if Green never lets his indie roots shine through and the film ultimately says quite little about whatever it thinks its about, the laughs keep on coming over and over.

    After a brief opening that feels ripped out of a 1950s science fiction parody with Bill Hader, we are introduced to process server Dale Denton (Rogen), who hands out subpoenas while smoking in between customers. His drug dealer is Saul (Franco), who thinks Dale is his friend, while Dale just wants the product. One day, Saul gives Dale a bag of pineapple express, which he calls “the dopest dope I’ve ever smoked.” Dale later tokes up that night, only to become a witness to a murder. When he leaves his joint, the murderer happens to be the dealer who got it to Saul, and begins a manhunt for the two. So Dale and Saul join up on the run, only to be stopped by one problem…they are high the entire time.

    What makes Pineapple Express so funny is that Dale and Saul are the perfectly wrong characters for an action film. They don’t know the clichés, the plot, nor the climax, so they do everything wrong and its hilarious. Only when we leave their characters, following two hit men (Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson, not given much to do) on their tail, or the dealer out to get them, does the film lose its track. Who does become a saving grace though is Green’s good friend Danny McBride, who is over the top strange as their buddy Red.

    Of course, the person people will be talking about is Franco. The superstar has been wasted in films like Spider-Man and Annapolis, forced into an archetype that never fit him. Back as a loser, Franco shines through the smoke surrounding him. He makes the strangest lines work and has a lot of fun doing it. Rogen, who plays essentially the same character we’ve seen too many times now, has a hard time keeping up with Franco, simply becoming a stepping stone from one line to the next.

    What Pineapple Express does unfortunately miss though is the point. There is talk and stuff about the usual bro-mance love that fills Apatow’s films and the idea of what is a best friend but none of it rings true when bullets are flying by and cannabis is in the air. Even Superbad was able to pull off the idea, so it’s a shame that those ideas and themes couldn’t be more fleshed out this time around.

    But back to the most curious aspect of the film—David Gordon Green. If no one had known that Green had directed this film, everyone would assume it was just another Apatow Undeclared graduate. Green’s dynamic camera work and ability to create an odd tone seems lost. Probably due to the improvisational nature of the film, Green simply plays along with his actors. He never really takes control. That isn’t to say that Green does a poor job—its quite serviceable for what he does, but it makes you question why he didn’t try and bring his own touch to the film. Where Green does stand out is during a few of the earlier action sequences, most notably a hilarious car chase, where he directs with great care. None of the sequences are disjointed or convoluted. They allow you to see so you can laugh, and aren’t trying to confuse you.

    Only in the last twenty minutes when Pineapple Express goes over the top in another direction does the film feel silly. It tries to become an action film, when it’s funnier when it is trying to fake it. Sure the over the top gruesome violence is amusing, but it never feels like Dale and Saul would ever find themselves acting like that. Thankfully the final scene redeems most of that, as the three characters recount the film in their own words, writing their own review for them. They found it to be hilarious and a lot of fun, maybe you should too.