Pineapple Express AU Review
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
Pineapple Express succeeds on many levels.
On the surface a teen stoner comedy with action sequences, you could easily roll your eyes at Pineapple Express. It’s a movie about two average guys and their love/hate relationship with marijuana. It has guns, bumbling mismatched sidekicks and slapstick. But under the surface sheen of generic conventions is a film that, like almost every Judd Apatow production before it, manages to subvert the stoner-comedy roots with a clever nod to Miami Vice-style ridiculous action and a level of self-consciousness that makes it incredibly entertaining, if a little more forgettable for the action slant.
Much of Pineapple Express’ success can be attributed to the cast of Apatow-regulars who punch out the jokes with delivery most comedians spend their lives trying to perfect. At the fore, Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, Superbad) plays Dale Denton, a Process Server (essentially, a guy who delivers court summons to people who sometimes don’t want to be found) with a teenage girlfriend and a taste for hashish. Playing opposite is James Franco (Spider-Man, Freaks and Geeks), who nails his portrayal of ineffectual but charmingly innocent weed-dealer, Saul Silver.
Denton witnesses a murder while sucking down a joint of Pineapple Express – the rarest pot in the country – and only supplied to one man: Saul. After ditching the dooby, Dale realises the pot is so rare that it’s completely traceable back to them, and the duo begin their run from a drug baron (the always talented Gary Cole), a crooked cop (Rosie Perez) and two scene-stealing hitmen (Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson). Danny McBride also crops up as a fair-weather friend who spends most of the film getting shot to pieces and reflecting on the meaning of friendship and the Buddhist belief system.
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