Ryan McNeil
Stoner movie huh? You don’t say.
The plot for this movie could probably fit on the inside of a matchbook. One night Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) witnesses a drug hit. In his haste to flee, he drops his joint – a rare blend of weed called Pineapple Express which he got that afternoon from his buddy and dealer Saul Silver (James Franco). The drug lord who just carried out the hit recognizes Pineapple Express, and sends his men after Dael and Saul. Hilarity ensues.
Alright, maybe not a matchbook, but certainly a cocktail napkin.
It feels like I write this about every fourth movie I see these days, but PINEAPPLE EXPRESS is yet another movie with the Judd Apatow seal of approval. For me, Apatow and his crew are batting about .500 lately – after every misfire (WALK HARD, STEPBROTHERS), they come right back with a genuinely funny outing (FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS).
I can’t say whether it was intentional or not, but PINEAPPLE EXPRESS felt an awful lot like the movies they used to make in the late eighties. You have drug dealers chasing uninvolved losers, silly and slapstick humour, Huey Lewis and Bil Biv Devoe on the soundtrack, and a starring role by Rosie Perez (who i joke about, but actually is pretty good as Carol the corrupt cop). Really though, all that was missing was a cameo by Damon Wayans and the movie could have been a 1990 throwback. Much of that era seems to be en vogue again, so perhaps it’s no surprise that this movie makes it work.
Two other details that make the movie work, are some over-the-top fight sequences, and the supporting role by relative newcomer Danny McBride as Red, Saul’s distributor. The fights get laughs for how long they go on, how intense they are, and in many cases how hard the landings look. Stunt work like this impresses me more than watching James McAvoy surf on top of a speeding subway – perhaps because these hits and landings look more real, and much rougher. Unfortunately though, the violence gets a little carried away in the final act making the film earn its 18A/R rating…and dragging the movie out twenty minutes too long.
McBride plays the slimy Red very well, and seems hellbent on matching Franco for moments of pure ridiculousness (Any grown man wearing Uggs = funny). The character is well written and steals pretty much every scene that he’s in, but unfortunately I can’t explain why without giving some great jokes away. Just trust me – he rocks.
Another thing that makes the movie work, is the fact that you don’t have to be a stoner for this stoner movie to be funny. My early reaction to this movie was a bit hesitant…a movie about stoners, by stoners, for stoners? What did that leave for any of us non-tokers? Thankfully, everyone involved seems to have kept that in mind, and even with the simple story there are plenty of laughs for the sober section. Heck, by the final act of the movie, Dale begins to question the wisdom of his habit. One has to wonder if it was an intentional moral by the writers, or pressure by an executive to make mentions of the pratfalls of constantly blazing up.
Who cares – it works. Now if you’ll excuse me, 227 is on. Pass the Fruit Roll-Ups.
Good review, I gave the film a C+ and thought it was good. It isnt a movie you should take seriously, but just relax and enjoy.
I think the film strays a bit from the late 80s formula by not only not taking its action sequences too seriously, but actually heightening the ridiculousness (though in an oddly un-foregrounded way) and making the violence part of the comedy. Let me try to be less convoluted: the action scenes play exactly like the stoners’ fantasy of an action movie (which I’m coming to understand was probably intentional) and hence they are way funnier than they should be.
I thought the movie sagged a bit in the middle, and I wasn’t even sold on Red in his first big scene, but his presence made the last scene one of the funniest, and in its own way one of the wittiest, comic scenes I’ve ever seen.
Wow movieman…that was one well-thought-out comment. It left me flipping to your blog looking to read your review of EXPRESS.
But you don’t have one up…what gives??
I just saw it Friday night and had/have some other films I wanted to review in the meantime. Plus, weekends are often slow in the blogosphere & since some of the "metatextual" observations were already made I wasn't sure I had much to add to the discussion. But I'll try and put my own spin on it and post today or tomorrow, so tune back in.
first half of Pineapple Express was about half as good as Knocked Up; the second half was almost as bad as Freddy God Fingered
The movie isn’t for everybody moviebuff…but I wouldn’t say any part of it was anywhere as bad as FREDDY GOT FINGERED.
(Good to hear from ya again though!)