Pineapple Express

"Pineapple Express"
David Gordon Green, 2008

"Pineapple Express" is a continuation of the "Apatow Company"'s fixation on losers who unwittingly place themselves in implausible situations. This time, the loser is a harmless stoner named Dale, who is played by Seth Rogan. Whenever he isn't with his high school-aged girlfriend, or pursuing people who are avoiding their subpoenas, he spends his time with his best friend, a mellow drug dealer named Saul (an excellent, unrecognizable James Franco). Saul is the exclusive distributor of a new, high-quality form of pot called Pineapple Express; and when Dale randomly witnesses a drug cartel-related murder, he accidentally drops his Express-laden stub, allowing the drug lord to track him down.

The film is consistently amusing, occasionally hilarious, and the laid-back characters are fun to watch - Rogan, in particular, has excellent comedic timing, which makes his character all the more memorable. During Dale and Saul's adventure, we witness two tender hit men, a gang of generic, bellicose Asians, and many violent deaths. But this is the area where "Pineapple Express" falters. "Hot Fuzz," another action-comedy film, managed to combine both its dry humor and its action sequences perfectly; I can't imagine enjoying that film nearly as much without its ultra-violent and hysterical finale. The comedy in "Pineapple Express" is quite good, but nothing special. Likewise, the action sequences are decent, but nothing special. The violence is merely there for violence's sake, and it ultimately feels extraneous. So, neither the comedy nor the action sequences are exceptional, but if the filmmakers had made a serious effort to meld the two, who knows what the final product may have looked like.

Rating: 7

First Viewed: 8/14/08, in 35 mm projection - IMDb