Pineapple Express Review

Overall 3.59 of 5 view all 17 reviews

LauraBelle
South Elgin, IL

Seth Rogen Pulls Another One Out

Movie Reviewer, A Big Giant Sap, mother of 2

Pros

Great buddy film, action packed, Seth Rogen, James Franco

Cons

Heavy Heavy Drug Use

SEP

2008

I don't think I've seen Seth Rogen in a movie that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. He has an incredible gift of a movie star version of the Midas Touch, and what's unique is he doesn't have the typical leading man looks to rely on. He does it all with intelligence and humor. This summer's Pineapple Express is no different, a movie that Rogen starred in, wrote, and executive produced.

My first introduction to this movie was when Rogen and costar James Franco presented an award at the MTV Movie Awards, and they did a whole sendup on their pot-smoking stoner ways of Pineapple Express. They appeared to be smoking a joint and were toting a bag of something that certainly resembled pot. They took a lot of flak for this, but mentioned after that this wasn't done all on their own, and it had been MTV that supplied them with the materials, fake or not.

The movie wasn't even out, and they were already pushing the envelope. However it was that Rogen and Franco made that appearance at the awards show, they fulfilled their job of giving the film a great promotion, as there was no way you forget what it was all about after all that.

Rogen stars as Dale Denton, a process server. While he drives from job to job, he seems to have nothing else to do but smoke weed and call in to talk radio shows with his favorite topic being the push to legalize marijuana. He seems to still be living out his high school years, unable to turn his back on them, as he even has a school-aged girlfriend. The age difference doesn't bother either one of them, and she even wants to introduce him to her parents.

Dale goes to his dealer's house, finding him watching old reruns of 227 and getting high. Saul (Franco) is a great character, as from the very beginning, while he has the appearance of being a complete stoner that doesn't seem to know where he is, we can tell he has a lot more going on with him. He's definitely lonely as he begs Dale to stay with him and get high, then asks him questions such as if he could pull the plug on someone if he needed to, meaning euthanasia, as they look at a picture of him and his grandmother.

After Dale gets some exclusive weed sold only to Saul called Pineapple Express, he heads over to a job, to serve Ted Jones (Gary Cole), and while he's finishing up his Pineapple Express joint, he oversees a woman cop (Rosie Perez) head inside the Jones home and she seems to be in on it with him while Jones kills an Asian. Dale sees all this out his car widnow, panics, throws his exclusive joint out the window, backs into the cop car parked behind in a few dozen times, then speeds off.

He is so panicked, Dale ends up back at Saul's house. He realizes he can be tracked now after leaving the exclusive Pineapple Express joint, and sure enough, Dale's supplier, Red (Danny R. McBride) sells out Saul. Saul and Dale take everything from Saul's apartment they think they might need, weed, snacks, and fruit roll-ups, then take off. They end up in the woods hiding and kill their cell phones in fear they could be tracked.

In the late afternoon, Saul and Dale finally wake up and walk to a very unloyal Red's house, as Red can't seem to decide whose side he's on. He's definitely like a cockroach, as no matter how badly he gets beat up or even shot, he somehow always lives through it. Perhaps it's the many bottles of Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers he's drinking while he recuperates by the toilet. Dale and Saul continue their escape after this, not knowing who to turn to since at least once cop seems to be in on this.

Through all the funny lines, mostly from Saul and Dale, Pineapple Express is a buddy film. Knowing that, we know how it will work. We know that they'll begin this friendship and grow close, then get angry with each other, only to come back together in the end. And with the intelligence and humor of Rogen and the extreme warmth that comes through Franco no matter what he's doing, it doesn't matter that it's a film about pot-smoking. It's just a good film.