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Dopey fun is at its best in this absolute riot of an action comedy. Despite awareness that this is a product of the Judd Apatow clan, it's difficult not to approach Pineapple Express skeptically because of the fact that it is a stoner comedy, and good films that fall into that category don't come along often. VERY good films that fall into that category are even rarer, which is all the more reason why Pineapple Express is such an awesome surprise. Thanks in large part to an uproariously hilarious James Franco, this is a terrific piece of humorous cinema.
In terms of quality of this type of movie, this year has seen a pretty wide range. Earlier in the year, we got Strange Wilderness (which, incidentally, featured a card-carrying member of the Apatow clan, who apparently decided to embarrass himself: Jonah Hill). Bad movie. It's probably not the nadir for stoner comedies (as I'm guessing there's a bunch of doozies out there that I haven't seen), but it still sucked big time, and thankfully, most people avoided the pain of watching it. Then we got the sequel Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, which was a decent film, definitely living up to the standards set by its predecessor: a few botched jokes, but still funny enough and worth watching. But what we've gotten with Pineapple Express is near comedic perfection. Just like Franco's character in the film (Saul) is the only one in possession of the titular drug (described as "the dopest dope you've ever smoked"), one could easily say that only Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (both of whom also co-wrote last year's great Superbad) could have given us something as fantastic as this film. And no, you really don't need to be under the influence of ANYTHING to laugh your ass off. I mean, I had one alcoholic drink before I went to see it, but I don't believe it impacted my enjoyment of it, and I didn't even have the drink with the express purpose of it assisting my enjoyment of it either.
The opening scene of Pineapple Express features the always hilarious Bill Hader in a black-and-white sequence that, although it's meant to clue us into the origin of the titular drug, it's not REALLY a relevant scene as far as the plot elements of the film are concerned, but that doesn't matter, because it gives us a chance to enjoy Hader's comedic prowess, and though it's a short scene, it's a great hilarious introduction to this laugh-riot. As was the case in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (the Apatow-produced project that preceded this one), Hader's short screen time is still magnificently humorous.
Seth Rogen is a very good comedian, even if he's not a consistently great actor. But that's okay because it's pretty obvious that the former goal is what he's aiming for, anyway. The problem is that his slight lack of acting skill comes across as being a bit more problematic here than in other films he has starred in, and that is because of the plethora of moments in which his Dale gets agitated; he definitely overacts and chews the scenery more than is necessary, even in an outrageous romp like this. In fact, the only nitpick I had with Knocked Up (which I think is equal in quality to this, an 8/10 as well) is that both Rogen and co-star Katherine Heigl didn't exactly give great lead performances, or at least (to be fair), they weren't bad at all, but their acting was definitely trumped by the supporting work done by Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd, as the secondary couple in the film. I actually think that the best comedic work Rogen has done in a film was his supporting role last year in Superbad, as one of the two cops (great characters, by the way).
But not to worry... because in Pineapple Express, any lackings in Rogen's performance are MORE than made up for by his co-star's pitch-perfect work. I'm predicting right now that Franco's Saul will become one of the most unforgettable comedic characters ever. With his long hair and pajamas and his laid-back stoner attitude (which is spot-on), he's created a truly hilarious persona. Keep your ears open because there's a lot of times that Saul is saying things while people are talking over him, and if you don't listen, you might not get a chance to hear some of his best lines; a good example of this is when Dale is describing his job as a server of legal documents, and Saul makes uproariously simple-minded observations about Dale's description (especially funny is Saul's curiosity towards the word "subpoenas"). According to the trivia on IMDB, Rogen originally intended to play Saul, and then discovered Franco would be better for the role. Thank God. Saul could've been several things: he could've been severely annoying, a lame pantomime, or blandly funny, worthy only of small chuckles. But thanks to Franco, he's unquestionably the comedic highlight of this film.
Also great is Craig Robinson as Matheson, one of the two guys in charge of tracking down Dale and Saul. He had a small, yet very funny, role in Knocked Up as the club doorman. It's interesting how both Franco and Robinson had small parts in that film (Franco played himself, in yet another great scene). One suspects there's a reason why these two have now been given a chance to display their range even more. Had they been the two characters who dominated the screen time in Pineapple Express, it may have even been a perfect comedy. Not to say the film isn't close to perfection, though, because it sure as heck is.
Some have criticized the action sequences as taking away from the film's effectiveness, and some have even claimed that the final showdown is overlong. Couldn't disagree more. First of all, the action sequences find just the perfect balance between silly gags and suspenseful excitement. In these scenes, there'll be times that you'll go from being engrossed in the fight sequences and car chases to laughing your ass off. Usually in films, it's either one or the other (or if both are present, one works much better than the other). Also, those who accuse it of trying to copy Tarantino are completely off-base; it's pretty obvious that that's NOT what the filmmakers here are going for at all. Pineapple Express has its own individual approach to its delightfully engrossing mix of action and comedy, and it is a hugely successful approach. If there is a movie that was a blatant (and totally unsuccessful) attempt at copying Tarantino, it's last year's Smokin Aces (gag). Needless to say, Pineapple Express is waaaay superior to that unholy mess of a film. And to be honest, the final sequence isn't over-extended at all. In fact, it shows just what it needs to, and it is well-edited, effectively cutting from what is happening to one character to what is happening elsewhere to another, and never boring or repetitive.
In fact, I'll confess that the action component of the film was what I was most worried about prior to seeing it, since it is territory that I hadn't previously seen explored in an Apatow-produced effort. Yet the action sequences are actually pretty exciting, and often very funny. There are even moments that would normally be considered lame in other films, such as Saul getting hit repetitively in the balls, but they somehow manage to NOT make this seem like an overused gag (talk about a feat) - this also gives way for a hilarious moment later in the film when the two protagonists need money, and Dale asks "How about your sack?", hoping that perhaps some of Saul's weed can be sold, and the hilariously unwitting Saul thinks that Dale is referring to his, um, sac. Okay, I promise that'll be the last time I'll quote anything, since it's obviously far funnier to actually hear it while watching the film. Also, while there's quite an amount of gross-out, blood-soaked humor, it manages to never come across as crass, in my opinion, which is yet another amazing accomplishment.
To make things even better, there's a decent amount of unconventionality to be found here, which is only one of the many things that separate Pineapple Express from the average, often disposable stoner comedy. When Dale gets arrested for selling weed, the scene plays out rather realistically, and rather than having the policewoman who arrests him be a stubborn cop who could care less about anything he's got to say and is totally ready to just lock him up in the station, she actually listens to what he has to say about Carol (Rosie Perez), the corrupt cop whom he witnessed committing a murder, and the policewoman who arrested him actually believes him and plans on helping him bring her down. Speaking of Dale's arrest, it happens because of yet another unconventional thing that I imagine a lot of people won't appreciate at all: Dale and Saul sell weed to high school kids. And in this case, the actors are actual kids, not adults playing high school students (as is so often the case in movies), which is surely what will bother some people. Some are even saying that, because of this, the film encourages that kids smoke weed. Come on. Seriously? Just because something HAPPENS in a film, it doesn't mean that its filmmakers endorse that behavior for those watching. This may sound like simple-minded logic, but if that were true, then every film that features someone murdering or stealing or whatever is also encouraging that behavior, which is obviously not true. PLUS, as I just said, Dale actually gets ARRESTED for selling pot to the kids, so those of you ostensibly righteous folks who are accusing the film of such encouragement, haven't you considered the fact that it shows the negative consequences of doing that? In fact, as the dopey comedy that it is, the film didn't even need to show said consequences, but it does, anyway. Think about that before you condemn it. You may also want to consider the fact that it's just a movie.
Another unconventional element of Pineapple Express is that the romantic aspect either doesn't end happily or it isn't resolved, as the last we see of it is a phone conversation that seems to put an end to things... well, at least this is the case in terms of the romantic aspect that involves Dale and his girlfriend, Angie (Amber Heard). There's another, far more interesting and hilarious, romantic aspect to the film, and that is the homoerotic humor between Dale and Saul, which manages to NEVER be offensive and ALWAYS bust a gut, even in the uproarious scene in which they're struggling to loosen their binds and they sort of get into a few, um, interesting (and hilarious) positions. This is another of the loads of moments that could've felt like a stupid gag, but it doesn't. There was also a small instance of that in this year's earlier Get Smart but it is played to much better effect here, and it is still also much better than the excruciatingly painful hotel scene in Borat.
What a truly fantastic work of comedic genius this is. Although Pineapple Express is a slight notch below last year's Superbad, that doesn't take away in the least bit from this film's irrefutable success. They say that the film that jumpstarted this genre was 1978's Animal House, which I actually find really unamusing. Perhaps it was funny in 1978 due to the novelty of the whole concept, but I found very little humorous material in the film. On the other hand, Pineapple Express (the movie) is more than a trip, and I don't mean in the hallucinogenic sense, although I have to admit that the often-referenced awesomeness of the titular drug is a pretty apt descriptor of the film itself.
8/10
