Violent stoner action comedy anyone?

Rating: 7/10 (18 December 2008)

Do we really need another stoner comedy? With Dude Where's My Car? Harold and Kumar's various adventures, not to mention the Cheech and Chong movies already out there, surely Pineapple Express is a bong movie too far? Well fear not because this latest vehicle for the ubiquitous Seth Rogen is a likable and funny addition to the stoner buddy comedy canon.
Seth plays Dale Denton, a process server with a penchant for pot, who witnesses a murder. Unfortunately for Dale, in his panic to flee the scene he discards a joint made from Pineaple Express, a drug so pure and exclusive, only one dealer possesses it, the bad guys are soon after him and said dealer (James Franco). Franco is great as Saul Silver, laid back and poetic purveyor of illegal substances, his character is a million miles from the stuffy, stiff and wooden Harry Osborn he plays in the Spiderman movies.
The chemistry between Rogen's antsy chatter and Franco's addled musings is pitched just right, in a tight Rogen Goldberg script (Superbad) that throws in some sparkling dialogue for our heroes. Indeed, the script only really falters with the weak subplot involving an Asian gang muscling in on gangster boss Ted Jones'(Gary Cole) drug empire.
There are some great supporting characters, Danny R McBride's haplessly indestructible Red is a scream and has the best line in the film, "You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos, motherf****r!" The bickering hit men Budlofsky and Matheson, played by Kevin Corrigan and an hilariously childish and camp Craig Robinson respectively, nag their way through the movie like an old demented married couple.
Throw in a hilarious car chase, which wonderfully subverts the machismo of more serious action movies, shoot outs, explosions, fist fights and not forgetting the greatest pot ever devised, Pineapple Express, that according to Saul is so good "it's like God's vagina!" And what you have are the ingredients for the world's first and best violent stoner action comedy.