Pineapple Express

Rating: 9/10 (9 August 2008)

Pineapple Express is a new comedy about a 20 something year old stoner named Dale, who along with his drug dealer named Saul, are both on the run after Dale saw something that he probably shouldn't have and the film's two antiheroes end up running from crooked cops and an evil drug kingpin while drug humour, male bonding and over the top action sequences follow. Basically if you are not a fan of stoner humour, or movies involving that type of humour, then it is a pretty safe bet that you are not going to enjoy this movie. For those who just enjoy a good comedy much like myself then there is a pretty good chance you will like it if you are a fan of Cheech and Chong and other films or sketches of the same variety. I've heard some people were also put off by some of the more graphic violence in this film, but I think a lot of the violence is done in such an over the top and almost cartoonish way that I think it is hard to take it too seriously, or be really offended by it. Seeing as this is a comedy a lot of the violence is more slapstick and even when there is bloodshed it is usually played for laughs. While, I didn't find this film as funny as the writers previous film Superbad, I still found a lot to enjoy and appreciate about the film and there were still several moments where I had a grin on my face and was amused by some of the clever one liners, or some of the on screen shenanigans that were going on. A lot of the humour like most of the R rated comedies now does rely on a lot of crude humour and language, so I guess if that is not your kind of entertainment then this film probably wouldn't be for you either. What, I found impressive about the film was it's fast paced and humorous script and I also liked the on screen chemistry from the film's two lead actors. Once again some have complained that this film was too long for a comedy, but I really did find the film to move really fast and I thought it had a good pace to it and because it was so entertaining with non stop humorous scenes and action (especially in the second half) that I find it hard to believe that people were getting tired of it. I was enjoying myself so much that it could have been over two hours and I probably would have still enjoyed it as much as I did. The film doesn't particularly break any new barriers and I have seen a lot of other films in the past year or two that I would say are funnier, but this film still works really well largely because of the great screen pairing of Seth Rogen and James Franco and the fresh one liners and over the top yet fun action in the second half. Pineapple Express worked for me and if you are a fan of films of this kind then I'm sure you'll enjoy it as well and I'm sure this will be a film that will end up in a lot of DVD collections and work as a late night cult film for some years to come and that is not a bad thing at all.