Review of Pineapple Express

Just One Hit and You Will Be High Enough to See:

JeanLuc Smokehard here, with his first review: Where should I start, where should I start…. Hold on (spark, pull, bubble, inhale, exhale) OK, I’m ready. Packing into a 7 o clock showing on opening weekend of Pineapple Express, one might be overwhelmed by the second hand stoned-ness. Beavis and Butt-Head-esque giggles, copious amounts of wrapper crinkling and enough THC residue floating around the motley spectators to give Nicole Ritchie the munchies. They don’t just call them stoner movies because the characters are stoned. It was a situation I would have found very distracting if I hadn't been high as a fucking kite myself. While I had been excited for the film's release I was a little worried because of all of the Big Lebowski comparisons I had heard (can you tell I like that film?). That’s setting the bar pretty high (heh heh, get it? High?) But I was excited nonetheless! I was excited because: A. I love stoner movies. B. I love the Appatow crew and their new brand of living-room humor. C. I love David Gordon Green and his unique perspective on modern alienation and the search for love. D. I love going to movies high. LOVE. Throw in the fact that I was pretty sure there were going to be plenty of guns and explosions (2 things I refuse to be ashamed of loving) and I thought that the movie had a pretty good chance of meeting my lofty expectations. And it did… to an extent. Sort of. I'm hungry. Pineapple Express is the story of two guys, Dale Denton (Seth Rogen), a cheeky process server who takes the edge off his crappy job by chain smoking joints, and Saul Silver (James Franco), a weed dealer who gives new meaning to the term burn out, who are thrown together by fate and ganja.They are forced to battle an entire cartel of hit men, drug king-pins, crooked cops and scariest of all, their own insecurities. Just kidding, the hit men are probably scarier. The plot of the movie is purposely ridiculous. The whole story is like skunk weed: it does what it is supposed to do, but just barely and it gives you a bit of a headache. There is a "Man Who knew to Little" aspect to it, where events line up in such a way that leaves the film constantly winking at the audience, making sure they are in on the clever joke. No we get it. It's very funny. How's that being clever working out for you? OK then. The over the top crime story does make for plenty of guns and violence though. Even shocking amounts of violence, which in my book, is just awesome. There has been a lot said about the appearance of James Franco's comedy chops in this movie. I don't disagree that he is funny in this, I disagree his chops were latent to begin with. Did you people not watch Freaks and Geeks? He smoked so much weed on that show it pretty much guaranteed him the chance to play the "Green" Goblin. Franco does bring the comedy heat, as does Rogen, though maybe not to the extent that was expected of him. He's fat though which is always funny. There are some seriously hilarious moments in this movie and at the end of the day, that was the whole point, right? Will it get the repeat views of a Cohen brothers movie? Probably not. Will it break the box office? Maybe, but Batman is still out so I don't know if anything is gonna touch that. Will it get a sequel? I have 8 words for you: Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. (I meant 7 words.) But if you are asking me if is it worth sparking up a fatty on a beautiful August evening, strolling past the park, getting a bunch of candy to sneak into the theater, sitting in the third row cause you got there late and then laughing till you get bits of Jr. Mints caught in your nasal passage... well then... I'm sorry, what was the question? I'm gonna go take a nap.

Posted on 08/19/08 by: JLSmokehard 03:58 PM

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