Less Than Half-Baked

Rating: 3/10 (9 September 2009)

To Seth Rogen, being Seth Rogen must be a great thing: he starred in the under-appreciated sitcom "Freaks and Geeks" and was swept up into commercially successful comedies, often featuring much of the ensemble players from the show and guided by the sometimes-astute, sometimes-labored hand of writer/director Judd Apatow. If the likes of "Knocked Up" and "Observe and Report" are any indication, America has fallen head-over-banana-peels for this guy...and I just don't get it. "Pineapple Express" is another entry into the Rogen pantheon (he co-scripted with Evan Goldberg), a film that takes the tired Stoner Comedy to yawnsome new lows. Dale Denton (Rogen) is a process server who delivers subpoenas to people, has an uber-hot high-school girlfriend (Amber Heard), and spends most of his lazy days in a stoned stupor (typical gag: he calls radio talk-shows complaining about how pot hasn't yet been legalized!), courtesy of supplier Saul (James Franco). But when he witnesses a mob murder while puffing on the titular weed, Dale and Saul are thrown into a half-assed action-movie plot where they are pursued by police, Asian gangsters, and Gary Cole (a fine character actor who deserves much better). For a film that crawls toward the 2-hour mark, "Pineapple Express" is loaded with filler, and many scenes (a seemingly improvised exchange between Rogen and Franco in the woods early on sets the tedious tone) seem to directly bank on the notion that most of the audience will be too high to tell the difference. More like a second sequel in the "Harold and Kumar" franchise than an actual comedy, the only thing that goes toward redeeming this remarkably laughless film is the deft direction of David Gordon Green ("Undertow"), who imbues a distinctive sense of style and pace to a less-than-worthy screenplay.