Stoner dudes on the run

Rating: 5/10 (2 December 2014)

As a writer Seth Rogen has a formula. A couple of stoner's/losers getting over their heads with some bad guys and trying to extract themselves from a perilous position in a comedic way.
Even Mike Myers knew to make Austin Powers work he needed to break down a James Bond film in a clinical fashion. I am not convinced Rogen is sure like Myers what he is parodying and that the formula is screwed down tightly.
As an actor Seth Rogen plays a slacker where he meets stoner's, losers and undesirable types. He has not stretched himself even when he plays a superhero such as The Green Hornet.
In Pineapple Express Rogen plays Dale Denton, a process server, who sees a killing by a drug dealer and then must evade his gang. He teams up with his friend, marijuana dealer Saul Silver (James Franco) as they elude the gang, a bent policewoman and get stoned.
The humour is broad and while some of its knockabout fun the comic book violence is jarring. Danny McBride gets shot point blank and survives, rather a few people get shot or stabbed and survive before being finished off properly.
The film is an uneasy mix, it is mildly amusing like the car chase with a foot through its windscreen, but runs out of steam. Maybe the script looked fun when the writers and actors were stoned.