Pineapple Express review…
I’m going to have to disagree with all the negative critics that didn’t see the fun in this film because I absolutely loved it!
Access via StarPulse
Directed by David Gordon Green, Pineapple Express is the tale of a hapless stoner and his dealer who find themselves running for their lives after a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Pot-smoking process server Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) witnesses a murder by one of the city’s ruthless drug lords and a crooked cop, and subsequently flees to his dealer Saul’s (James Franco) house. But a discarded roach at the scene of the crime containing the rare variety of marijuana ‘Pineapple Express’ leads the murderers to the two protagonists and begins a fast-paced run-for-their-lives.
The film is co-written and executive produced by the star Seth Rogen who does seem to love these hopeless stoner roles, but he plays them so well that I’m certainly not complaining. And James Franco is brilliant as the pyjama-wearing perpetually high dealer (with a gorgeous smile).
While I do think some stoner movies are pretty tedious (eg. How High and Jay and Silent Bob) and I don’t really like the glorification of pot, there are some albeit vague moral undertones that the weed is not exactly helping these boys get ahead in life. David Strattan was pretty unimpressed by the film, as was Daniel Kimmel who commented that “…stoner humour is primarily funny to people who are stoned,” but I have to disagree with regard to this movie. If it is a ‘stoner movie’, Pineapple Express is an awfully exciting one.
The action and suspense in this film are fantastically done and combined with the very quirky humour, there’s not a boring moment. The car chase is particularly hilarious as is the forest scene when paranoia starts to set in. The music is great, there are plently of explosions, a mighty big body count and a number of tense scenes that have you biting your nails between the laughter but, dare I say it, I think this is the funniest film of 2008.
Watch the trailer here.
