Customer Reviews

Pineapple Express Two-Disc Unrated Edition

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

A movie like PINEAPPLE EXPRESS should not be expected to be talked about in the same breath as CITIZEN KANE or GONE WITH THE WIND. However, it has nonetheless ascended to near the top ranks in its own particularly little sub-genre: the "pot" comedy.

While Cheech & Chong's UP IN SMOKE will probably always lead the pack, simply for being the first (and for being very edgy...in it's day)...EXPRESS is the first film of its ilk to boast huge laughs, modest thrills, enjoyable lead characters and a narrative structure that doesn't fall apart the further it goes. For example, the HAROLD AND KUMAR films can be greatly amusing, but their "plot" grows more and more flaccid and pointless as they move along. The lead "characters" are hardly believable as people...they are comic devices.

In PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, we have the story of a process server (Seth Rogan) who enjoys doing little else but smoking pot. He is decent at his job, but also spends much of it sitting in his car smoking. He's dating a high school girl who would have been seriously out of his league when HE was in school. His "best friend" may just be his pot dealer (James Franco.) And through an unfortunate circumstance, Rogan witnesses the murder of an Asian drug dealer by the leader (Gary Cole) of the other drug ring in his city. The murder is aided by a policewoman (Rosie Perez), who is also a pretty vicious killer. They get wise to who their witness is when Rogan makes the mistake of tossing his half-smoked joint out the window of his car as he hurriedly drives away. You see, the joint is made of a new weed called Pineapple Express, which thus far has been sold only to one drug middleman (Danny McBride), who has only sold it to one of his dealers...Franco. Thus, almost immediately, Rogan and Franco are on the run for their lives. Eventually they will have to beat these violent men at their own game just to survive.

That's about it for the basics of the plot...but what is nice about it is the way it holds together from beginning to end. The characters go through a journey and they change and grow a little. While the dialogue and humor are important, this is one "pot" movie where the plot is actually important to the film, not just an excuse to make "I'm so stoned" jokes.

Rogan is basically playing his character from KNOCKED UP again...but if you need that sort of character, he's got it down cold. He's a nice loser who actually looks like a real life person. Danny McBride joins this group of losers midway through, and he brings a nice jolt of almost absurdist humor the film. He's like Rasputin mixed with the character Terry on RENO 911 (you know, the "male prostitute" on roller skates). Gary Cole and Perez are a little too generic, and frankly, the bad guys in the film are not well-sketched out. Their behavior is inconsistent and not always credible.

James Franco steals the film, though. He was born to play this role. In movies as varied as SPIDERMAN and FLYBOYS...he often is unsuccessful at playing a button up, "serious" types. He's better when allowed to let his slacker show through. In FREAKS AND GEEKS, he was a stoner heartthrob, who discovered he had deep reserves of loyalty and love. In PINEAPPLE, he's a stoner with very little to offer, but who has a simplicity and openness about him that makes him likeable. Yes, it's the pot that has made him this way...but Franco refuses for settle for a simple caricature. His stoned but winning eyes & smile are the heart of this film.

The humor is certainly R-rated. Lots of "f" bombs. A fair amount of violence near the end too. It's crass and loud at times. Sometimes the jokes are obvious and unoriginal. But mostly it is sustained by moments of real feeling (as we see so often in films with the name Apatow stamped on them), likeable characters and a plot that has a beginning, middle & end.

Now, finally, let me comment on the "drug" elements. I don't use drugs. Even in my days of "youthful indiscretion" I was not a dabbler. I would certainly be what anyone would call "conservative" on this particular issue. So therefore, I might tend to take offense at such "glorification" of drugs. But I'm not sure that the film does that. True, it pretty much assumes that the entire world does drugs. But it also shows, quite clearly and without preaching, that the use of these drugs, while inducing pleasurable feelings, also induces stupid decision making, slothfulness and wastefulness. Clearly, it sides with those who would make pot legal...but it doesn't disdain those who oppose this. It simply IS. I can't imagine this film would make anyone change their behavior. Those who use pot regularly already are likely to smile in recognition at much of the behavior. Those who don't use it will NOT be inspired to give it a try. So while I'm not thrilled at a film that is clouded 90% of the time with pot fumes...I can't get upset about it either.

This was another in a long line of funny movies from Judd Apatow, but with a lot more action thrown in for good measure. Seth Rogen may always sound and act the same in everything he does, but that doesn't make him any less funny. James Franco is the real star of the show. I always thought he had great potential, but he just seemed so bland in the Spider-Man movies and Flyboys. This is a well acted and funny performance. I heard some people on the web talk about casting him as The Joker in the next Batman movie. Whether it happens or not, I now think he has a chance to pull it off. All the other cast members are weirdly memorable, especially the cat loving drug dealer who just won't die.

Pineapple Express does get really violent and a little gory towards the end, but it is a good mix of comedy and action. It's just plain fun.

3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars

Pineapple Express stars the soon to be a household name, Seth Rogen, whose film personality seems to roll over into every character he's portrayed so far. This trait is usually seen as a drawback and is most often frowned upon, but he's seemed to master the art of the typecasted actor. The film opens with a scene at an underground Military Research Facility during the 1930's. Inside the facility top military officials are observing the results of a Soldier who has just smoked Marijuana in order to determine its psychological effects; the results, as you can imagine, are hilarious.


Cut to modern times, James Franco plays a humble pot dealer that has the persona of not just being the 'go-to-guy' for pot, but a 'genuine friend'. Seth's character makes it apparent that he is not looking to expand on the relationship during their 'transactions'; but when he opts to stay a while, a true comedic chemistry is portrayed.
You may or may not have heard that,**drumroll** 'Pineapple Express' is a brand of weed based upon an actual weather effect in the Pacific Ocean*; Franco introduces it to Rogen as an ultra-rare strain available only thru him(the way he describes the rarity of it is comical ingenuity).

After Pineapple Express is introduced into the film; Rogen, who prefers to smoke while on the job, comes across a 'wrong place at the wrong time' situation and witnesses a murder occur. The killer, who sees Rogen's attempt to get away, only after hitting the car in front of and behind him, links the witness through the roach he threw out of his car window to the dealer(Franco) he buys it from. This incident would begin the buddy comedy-esque story filled with cat and mouse style pursuing, ridiculous humor in between, moderate violence and a shootout towards the end of the flick.

The film is rated 'R' and YES, there is a pro-marijuana undertone to the movie, so if you are sensitive to this topic, dont bother watching it. HIGHly recommended comedy for the liberal, open minded crowd. Solid 4 outta 5 Comedy.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_express

The movie is long, At times funny, and Not entirely a stoner film per se, but pretty much bland. At least Cheech & Chong Is funny(I Don't do Drugs myself-which has nothing to do with it). But The movie plot is dumb. Don't see what the big deal is. I do have to hand it to Craig Robinson He is funny.

I bought this about a week ago and I started watching the special features disc. A lot of the material on that disc is extremely funny, if you're into that kind of humor. They actually put a lot of unseen footage into the second disc, like one-liners, and deleted scenes. I haven't even seen all of the features yet.

Get this if you really liked the movie and want to see more about how they made it. Otherwise just stick to the 1-disc edition.

Co-written by star Seth Rogen and his partner Evan Goldberg, the ramshackle dialogue is familiar from any of the comedies from the Judd Apatow factory. The funniest bits are the throwaway lines delivered by Rogen as Dale Denton, a carefree process server who smokes reefer all day, dreams of being a radio talk-show host, and has a relationship with a high school girl named Angie. The movie's title refers to the new and powerful weed strain that Dale buys from a sweet-natured, likeably loopy dealer named Saul Silver. Both are quickly on the lam after Dale witnesses a grisly murder at the hands of criminal drug lord Ted Jones and his corrupt cop lover Carol. They try to elicit help from Saul's shifty but hilariously obtuse friend Red, but he rats on them to a pair of hit-men who are in hot pursuit of the comic pair.

I have to admit that the film starts rather unpromisingly as a stoner comedy with a somewhat unsavory element in the romance Dale has with his underaged girlfriend. However, it picks up considerable comedy steam when Dale and Saul become paranoid as much from their excessive smoking as their on-the-run situation. Director David Gordon Green, a filmmaker known more for his indie work like George Washington, also brings a refreshing human element to key moments within the escalating shenanigans, especially when the bond between Dale and Saul becomes hilariously intractable. It also becomes clear that Dale's relationship with Angie is based on his emotional immaturity versus a Lolita complex.

As Dale, the schlubby Rogen is really doing nothing different here than he did in Knocked Up, though his baseline character's object of affection has shifted discernibly from a beautiful entertainment reporter to a dealer and his doobies. An actor etched in my memory for his startling turn as James Dean in the 2002 telepic, a stringy-haired James Franco manages to be funny and intriguingly poignant in an off-kilter way. The scene stealers, however, turn out to be Danny McBride (the suspicious brother in last year's The Heartbreak Kid), who survives every action-thriller cliché imaginable, and Craig Robinson (the hilariously observant nightclub bouncer in Knocked Up) as the overly sensitive hit-man Matheson. Left far to the sidelines are Gary Cole not nearly interesting enough as Jones and a strangely cast Rosie Perez acting quite butch as Carol.

Ed Begley, Jr., has a funny bit as Angie's beleaguered dad, and Ken Jeong (the obnoxious ob-gyn in Knocked Up) shows up as one of the ninjas from the Asian crime syndicate. Overlong at 110 minutes, the movie shifts gears into Quentin Tarantino territory during the last third - first with a predictably wild car chase scene and then the particularly over-the-top mayhem at the grow house where the Pineapple Express is harvested. As a silly overture, the opening black-and-white scene, set seventy years prior, has Bill Hader as a soldier smoking copious amounts of marijuana to test his mettle, but make no mistake that this is at heart a stoner buddy film, a point made clear by the film's hangover scene in the diner. There's a lot of funny stuff in this film, and much of it is well-played, but the audience is clearly pre-determined by the subject. If you are repelled by the thought of watching guys getting high for nearly two hours, then I say just skip it.

I expected more than a stoner movie with Pineapple Express, but in the end that's all it really was. The big difference between Pineapple express and other stoner movies (like Napoleon Dynamite) is that you don't have to be a stoner to enjoy it.

Seth Rogen wrote and starred in the movie (as if you weren't aware of that already), and is a genuinely funny guy. He's concocted a film here with Pineapple Express that is chock full of laugh out loud moments. And his co-star James Franco (best known for his role as Harry Osborne in the Spider-Man movies) is excellent as the stereotypical, drug dealing, waste-brain. The chemistry between Rogen and Franco is perfect and they have some hilarious dialogue together. In fact that is when the movie is at its funniest, and fortunately they're together for most of the movie.

Basically the plot centers on Rogen's witness of a murder committed by a guy that happens to have an indirect tie to Franco's character. The killer is able to track down Rogen's identity through this indirect tie, and the amusing chaos ensues.

You'll get a real kick out of Pineapple Express. It's not all about getting stoned; there's action, comedy, good acting...and it's all done better than most movies in this category. Check it out.

As I do not smoke pot, I was more than a little hesitant to see Pineapple express, for fear it would be yet another stoner movie full of weed jokes I didn't get. However, I have never been so pleased to be disproved. I laughed from the beginning to the end of the movie, and the memorable quotes instantly became an easy way to draw a laugh out of the friends who were with me. Though Rogen does play much the same part as he has in previous movies, his comedic timing with Franco is the best I have seen yet. The two actors play off each other fantastically and honestly it's Franco who steals the show. I was also surprised to find a good bit of subtle humor in the movie, beyond the blatant pot jokes and stoned conversations that were well done enough to have me nearly doubled over in laughter, but also humorous details you have to be sober to catch.

Obviously not a movie for younger kids as there's a good bit of gore and violence, but a perfect gift for anyone who likes a good laugh.

To keep it short, sweet and to the point... So good, I went to the theater to watch it twice in one week! The most amazingly hilarious movie I've seen in a long time. By the time I left the theater, my ribs were in agony from the non-stop, gut-busting comedy. I think I laughed even harder the second time around :) Seth Rogen and James Franco made an excellent duo for this flick.

Pineapple Express is such a fun film and very odd for its type. It lacks the emotional depth that Apatow's associates have been able to mix with their brand of dirty comedy, but it still has heart. It also has a different kind of humor. It's not the witty dialogue that takes center stage, but rather it's a tiny blend of that and a huge dose of finedly crafted physical comedy.

The way the movie plays calls for physical comedy, as Seth Rogen and James Franco are high on pot through the duration of the film. In the hands of anyone else, this movie will fail. But Rogen and Franco play their parts very well. That's where the humor plays out. Whether it's a paranoid Rogen explaining a sticky situation to his girlfriends parents or a pot impaired Franco in a car chase, the humor is almost entirely physical.

That's not to say this film doesn't have its own narrative wit. The chracters are funny and as one review pointed out, almost plausible. Rogen is entierly likeable (as he always is), as a man who serves out subpoenas and Franco is his drug dealer who is forced into an alliance with Rogen's character. And wihle Rogen is always great and dependable in his comedic roles, it's Franco who shines, delivering laughs in nearly every scene he's in.

The film has heart, too. Though it doesn't quite strike the chord that prior Apatow outings have, the film has a certain "male bonding" vibe to it that makes it a sorta "chick flick" for guys. That may sound kinda corny, but watch it with the guys, and you may see what I mean.