Pineapple Express

While I do not smoke weed, nor have I ever smoked weed, I love stoner movies, I cannot quite explain why, but I do. Half Baked, How High, etc, all that shit, I love it. I also seem to love movies written by Seth Rogen. So it was just my luck that Seth Rogen decided to write a stoner movie. Not only did he write a stoner movie, he wrote a stoner action movie that seemed aimed at people who love 1980s action movies. What is not to love, really? I have been anxiously awaiting this movie since the Superbad DVD came out and I saw the clip that featured the line "It smells like God's vagina." What does it mean? I have no idea. It is nonsense, but brilliant nonsense; it is the kind of nonsense I love from Judd Apatow and his gang of super talented improv artists. I was so ready for this bad boy!

The movie opens in black and white, in a year I do not remember, but it was like the 1930s or something. We are in a secret underground military base where a Private Miller (the super reliable Bill Hader) is smoking weed while being questioned. After a hilarious exchange, it is decided that weed should be made illegal. Cut to present day where Dale Denton(Rogen) is smoking weed and calling talk radio about why it should be legalized. Dale is a loser process server who smokes weed all day and is dating an unbelievably hot high school senior. He dreams of being a talk radio host. His dealer, Saul Silver(James Franco) is a nice guy who sells pot because he genuinely loves selling pot. Saul has a new strand of pot called "Pineapple express." He is the only one in the area who sells it. He sells some to Dale and after some awkward conversation, Dale takes off to serve Ted Jones. When he gets to Jones house, he stops to smoke some pineapple express and witnesses Jones killing someone. Dale tosses the joint out of the window and takes off for Saul's house. Jones picks up the joint, takes a hit and knows exactly whose it is. He sends two hit men after him and a chase film ensues. Dale and Saul contact Saul's connect, Red (Danny McBride), but Red sold them out. Dale and Saul go on the run again, knowing they cannot go to the police because Ted Jones has police on the pay roll. In the middle somewhere a war breaks out between pot growers, with Ted Jones' gang at war with a bunch of Asian Ninjas with serious guns.

I was pleasantly surprised by The 40-yr old virgin; I couldn't believe Superbad and Knocked up were as funny as they were; I got exactly what I wanted to out of Pineapple Express. Does that mean my expectations were higher for this? I don't think so, I just had my expectations at just the right level. Rogen and Franco make a pretty damn entertaining on screen pair. Franco really shines in a role that totally downplays his looks and upps his comedic timing. He seems so at ease playing the lovable loser. It is almost as if he would rather do this than be all handsome and shit. There is a ton of comic gold within the first half of this movie with nonsense one liners like "This smells so good, I feel bad smoking it, like killing a unicorn." There is a brilliant conversation about a dead car battery and I am sure I missed lines because I was laughing the BIG KYLE LAUGH. The opening sequence with Bill Hader is a genius opening scene except that it kept Hader in only the first 5 minutes. This guy is invaluable, why is he being wasted in Saturday Night Live?? Gary Cole and Rosie Perez do a good job as the villains and Cole's line delivery of "Has anyone seen my bigger knife" cracked me up.

However, this is not a straight comedy. The action/violence/gore gets really revved up in the final 45 minutes. As the action intensifies, the movie does lose some of its comedy, which may disappoint some people just looking for a stoner comedy, but I think the action is well paced and well placed. The car chase is both funny and action packed and it serves as a nice transition from stoner comedy to buddy action film. What I loved most about the buddy action stuff, is that they intentionally play up the homosexual undertones of so many of those kinds of movies. Apatow is credited with creating the subgenre "Bromantic comedy", and here Rogen has some fun with it with some pretty over the top gay stuff. Of course, the line "Bromosexual" kind of sums that whole thing up. As the gun play and hand to hand combat overtake the comedy, it feels a little overwhelming, but it is nicely staged and the director does a good job of giving Saul and Dale different scenarios in where and whom to fight. It is hard to imagine Seth Rogen in hand to hand combat, but the whole scene is actually entertaining and allows for some "Ow" and "Oh shit that had to hurt" moment from me. Yes, I really do get into movies.

I have only one real complaint about Pineapple Express and that is Danny McBride. This guy is supposedly the new comic find with Adam McCay, Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow swearing by him. He wrote, directed and starred in a movie that Hollywood comedy heavyweights loved, but I don't get it. Maybe he is funny, but in Pineapple Express he was like a rookie in an all star game. Maybe he belongs there, but he is overshadowed and looks scared. Red should be an awesome character and this guy just underwhelmed me. There had to be someone else in the Apatow troupe that could have done that role, or even some other actor that would have been better. He just didn't do anything for me and that was too bad, because it is such a great characters with a ton of great stuff to do. With such a wide range of actors they could have got for that part, why go to someone like McBride? Maybe he just doesn't work for me in the way Ferrell doesn't work for me. I could picture them going to someone like Vince Vaughn for the role of Red, or maybe go smaller in stature and had Jay Baruchel which would have been hilarious.

The final scene makes this movie, though. It is truly a perfect final scene.

Pineapple Express offers a lot of laughs and some great action, but be warned, it does get bloody and if you pay attention there is an anti-drug message hidden in there. It is not an outright preachy movie in the vain of Requiem for a dream, but it exists. Granted most of the audience will be too high to pick it out. If you go watch the movie, stay for the beginning of the credits for a treat: A new HUEY LEWIS SONG!!!!

Final Grade: B+