Disappointing and surprisingly unfunny movie

Rating: 4/10 (14 September 2008)

Superbad was one of the funniest movies in the last year. It was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. It was also produced by Judd Apatow, who made Knocked Up, another funny comedy. So why is it that Pineapple Express is such a disappointment? Dale Denton is a process server. He also likes to smoke weed. After visiting his dealer Saul, he goes to serve a guy called Ted Jones. As he gets there however, he witnesses Jones and a female cop kill a man. Getting away he is spotted and due to smoking a joint at the scene, Jones (also a supplier of drugs) discovers what kind it is (the Pineapple Express of the title), and knowing who supplies it begins a hunt for Denton. Meanwhile Denton has gone on the run, taking Saul with him, and a friendship grows between them.....
The actors in the movie are fine, but this is a movie dominated by two performances. Rogen as Denton gives a performance very much like the one he gave in Knocked Up. But the real star here is James Franco as Saul. Almost unrecognizable, and looking very similar to the way Brad Pitt looked in True Romance, it's a very good performance, and the standout here. The relationship that grows between the two men as the story plays out is well handled.
But what lets the movie down is the script. It's simply not that funny. And there are a couple of story points that just seem wrong somehow. First up Denton and his high school girlfriend. Where in Knocked Up the idea of an unattractive man having a drunken night of passion with a beautiful woman worked, and was funny, here it just seems wrong.
The other idea that doesn't quite work is that we are meant to root for these guys through-out the movie, but as characters, they aren't really that likable. Had the writing been funnier that might have been different, but as it is you simply don't care what happens to them.
There is a black and white sequence at the beginning of the movie, that serves no purpose, except to set up a location for the climatic shoot-out. If there was another purpose for it, I certainly missed it.
The director of the movie David Gordon Green, does well with the material, allowing the cast to give good performances, and he stages the action pretty well.
As a comedy it's unfunny, as an action movie it's not exciting enough, and all you are left with are a bunch of good performance needing a better story and script.
As I said, Rogen and Goldberg wrote Superbad, which was very funny. Based on this however, I'm hoping that it wasn't a one off.