Pineapple Express is the new comedy from the Judd Apatow movie powerhouse. When stoner Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) visits his dealer Saul Silver (James Franco) he’s introduced to a new incredibly rare strain of weed called Pineapple Express. While smoking the new strain in his car Dale witnesses a murder committed by a cop and a powerful drug lord. He panics and drops the rest of the joint he was smoking, and crashes his car in an attempt to get away, bringing the attention of the murderers. Dale and Saul run for their lives in fear of the drug lord tracing them through the joint Dale left at the scene. They soon find that they aren’t just paranoid from the weed, ruthless killers really are hunting them down.

This film had me laughing throughout. From beginning to end it feels pretty fresh, and I don’t even smoke. I’m sure it’s that much better for a stoned audience. The scenes are funny, but the film isn’t quite as sharp as the trailer makes it look. The whole plot and execution never really gets past the level of silliness. It doesn’t take itself seriously, which is, in the long run, a good thing. The scenes are funny, but it’s a bit uneven in terms of pace. It goes from frantic, action packed scenes into much slower dialogue scenes that suck some of the energy out of the flow. My only major complaint about this film is its length. It’s a full hour and 45 minutes, I think it could have been trimmed in some of the slower scenes to make it an hour and thirty minutes. But overall it’s a fun story with wild and crazy antics that made me laugh a lot. I did walk out with a smile on my face.

The performances are pretty solid in this piece. Comedy is hard to pull off but James Franco and Seth Rogen make it look easy. The relationship these two portray is like that of old buddy cop movies, that love-hate dynamic keeps things interesting. The whole cast does a fine job bringing together all the elements of the offbeat goofy world scripted by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

Visually this movie is pretty basic, don’t expect anything all that unique or appealing. Some of the sets are pretty colorful and it’s funny to see them being torn, crushed, smashed and splattered with blood. Really though, given the nature of the film, the comedy is really what steals the show.

Overall, this film is really fun, kooky and crazy. It’s great entertainment for stoners and the sober alike. It’s not perfect, and not as funny as some of the other films in the growing Judd Apatow collection, but it’s a welcome addition. I recommend it. 

-Nick Wolfwood

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