Pineapple Express: Sour Pineapple Still Sweet
All aboard the funny train! Next stop, damnation. This is hardly an express, however; there will be many ludicrous stops and track derailments along the way. Despite the weeds, raucous Pineapple Express manages to transcend the average stoner movie and defines a genre all its own: bromance action comedy. Pulp Fiction meets Superbad meets Half Baked aside, a second-place gross of $22.4 million beneath juggernaut The Dark Knight at $26 million is no joke given the box office drag of a weekend.
Produced by comedy-famed Judd Apatow (of such works as Superbad, Knocked Up, and 40 Year Old Virgin), this pineapple doesn’t fall far from the tree. With rowdy marijuana-induced escapades, crooked cops, drug dealers and near-death bonding experiences, you’re in for a wild ride on the Cannabis train. As the latest entry to the stoner comedy fray however, it is one of the funniest in the line and riotously celebrates the genre while making it fresh and modern.
In other words, you won’t need a bag of grass to make this movie worth the admission.
Pineapple Express is surprisingly full of verve and wit, marvelously provided by the dynamic duo of druggy Dale Denton (the ubiquitous Seth Rogen) and dealer Saul Silver (a stunning James Franco). Shockingly interspersed brilliancies will have you wondering whether these are pothead degenerates or civic engineers speaking. The script and story (both splendidly co-written by Rogen and Apatow) engage and entertain you to no end, dotted with tender poignancies that will warm even the coldest critic. (How someone could remain cold while howling through the hilarious trip to survival of these two men, though, escapes me.)
Added to the mix, too, are a clever strand of satire and an honest hint of humility. Pineapple Express knows what kind of movie it is, and so isn’t afraid to laugh at itself when it incorporates action. You witness a film clearly crafted in good fun as it admits its faults and laughs with you. Even an entertaining game of “name that movie!” takes place as you notice references to such famous films as GoldenEye, Chariots of Fire, Rocky and Terminator.
And so Pineapple Express doesn’t try to be something it’s not. Rather, it embraces and upgrades its stoner roots. There is still plenty of surface level humor and action, but the deeper levels of life’s ironies and journeys come into play in Apatow’s story of struggle, rebellion, and friendship. This will certainly be the next big stoner-genre hit, and it deserves to be. Pineapple Express graciously delivers exuberant entertainment, so if you’re up for a wild ride, sit back and enjoy the show.
first half of Pineapple Express was about half as good as Knocked Up; the second half was almost as bad as Freddy Got Fingered
movie buff said this on August 31, 2008 at 1:39 am