Pineapple Express (2008)

Truly Dreadful Film

How sad is this?

Fresh and Exciting

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

However....the movie failed. There were some bright spots where I laughed but I was mostly counting the comedy cliche's instead of being blown away by real moments of inspired comedy. I know we can have originality, a story and laughter in the same movie, I've seen Bridesmaids. It's just a shame most producers feel safe with the cookie cutter stamp of these prefab type of comedies I've seen over and over again.

A description of the characters and the plot make the film sound as silly as an old Popeye cartoon, but it does have its moments and adults ought to find it almost as amusing as its target audience of teens. You'd never think laughs could still be gotten out of weed heads but marijuana works here as a kind of plot engine. If it weren't for some dynamite pot known as "Pineapple Express," nothing would have happened.It's Los Angeles and there are two high-echelon drug organizations at war -- one run by Gary Cole, the other by Asians. The two protagonists -- Rogen and Franco -- are everyday users, with Franco a small time dealer and Rogen a process server. (Franco, in all seriousness, "What do you serve? Like, hamburgers?") Rogen witnesses a murder by Cole, flips away his roach and flees the scene with a great deal of commotion. Cole watches the car speed away, picks up the discarded butt, puffs on it, and says "Pineapple Express." Alas, the brand is so rare that it can easily be traced to dealer Franco. Realizing this, and it's one of the few things they DO realize, Rogen and Franco hastily pack up and leave everything behind. The rest of the movie is largely a story of pursuit, with shootings, a high speed car chase, various explosions and a general atmosphere of hysteria.It's pretty funny. The most outrageous performance is by Seth Rogen who gives expert imitations of flooding out with fear, screaming hoarsely, waving his arms, weeping. Franco, comparatively speaking, has a Zen quality about him. Craig Robinson, as a semi-moronic hit man, gives a splendid performance and is given some good lines. "You know, I may look tough but I have feelings too, and you just hurt every one of them." But then many of the lines are -- well, not exactly WITTY, but funny nevertheless. While they are discussing their perilous situation, Rogen asks Franco if it's really possible for Cole and his gang to track them down. How could they do it? Franco, befuddled by dope, muses, "I don't know. Bloodhounds maybe. Dogs. Barracudas." There's a good deal of slapstick at the end during a bloody but still comic shootout, but that too is well choreographed. Grownups ought to get a kick out of at least some of the scenes and some of the dialog.

This rumpled, shaggy comedy was somewhat amusing at first. It was genial, generally amusing, and not afraid to do something ridiculous like giving Seth Rogan a high schooler for a girlfriend and have everyone accept it.That's fine for a while, but this is a movie where you need to really like the basics of a buddy comedy between two bumbling stoners, because that's all there is. Cheap sex jokes, cheap joke drugs, over-the-top action that is never particularly exciting, are things you crave desperately, because that's pretty much all you'll get.By the halfway point I was tempted to give up on this, but I did watch it all the way through. It wasn't a horrible experience, but you probably need to be stoned to appreciate this fully.

Well, the start is slow and long because it's not really funny unless you find pot smokers acting stoned funny in itself.After a while (about an hour) things start to move away from "pot- heavy" and get much better, but not great. There are interesting ideas, but it's still mostly gags, many of which don't work very well.The dynamics between the two main characters don't feel genuine. Sure, they're stoned all the time, but that shouldn't effect how they feel and you seeing it - it should only affect how they express their feelings. It's not enough for them to just say what they feel, because that's in the script, they should act like it.Also, the end doesn't really tie loose ends, which is strange for a movie this long.