From dope to dopey

Pineapple Express
Review by Nathan Weinbender

“Pineapple Express” combines elements from ‘70s stoner comedies and ‘80s action flicks and approaches them with the no-nonsense practicality and pseudo-intellectual rhetoric of Judd Apatow movies. Here’s proof that we have come a long way since Cheech and Chong, but perhaps that’s not saying much. Perhaps that’s not saying anything at all.

Now, it’s true that the two main characters in “Pineapple Express,” produced by the ubiquitous Judd Apatow, are potheads and that they are high through most, if not all, of the film. But there’s a point halfway through where one of them, surveying the damage they’ve caused, wonders if, hey, maybe we wouldn’t be in so much trouble had we not smoked so much weed.

That’s what druggies refer to as a moment of clarity, and it’s what separates our super-high protagonists, played by Seth Rogen and James Franco, from the cinematic stoners of yore. I wish Cheech and Chong had had as much mental wherewithal, because only then would one of them have observed that, hey, maybe we wouldn’t have made so many awful comedies had we not smoked so much weed.

Rogen plays Dale Denton, a pothead process server who spends his days serving subpoenas, getting high in his car, visiting his high school-aged girlfriend during her lunch period and chilling with his spacey drug dealer Saul (Franco). During a routine visit to Saul’s for a toke or two, Dale buys a bag of choice marijuana called Pineapple Express. It’s so good and so rare, Saul tells him, that smoking it would be “like killing a unicorn.”

Later that night, as Dale gets high in his car, he witnesses a murder committed by a drug kingpin named Ted Jones (Gary Cole) and a female cop (Rosie Perez). He flees the scene, leaving behind a smoldering joint that Jones manages to trace back to Saul. This is the point in the film when the violent action material kicks in, and it’s also the point when the movie loses its footing.

The action sequences in “Pineapple Express” are jarring, so violent and aggressive that they don’t fit within the context of a comedy. Too many scenes smack of desperation, as the characters run around frantically and beat up on one another in frantic attempts at cheap laughs. The climax is especially miscalculated, so overblown and overlong that it seems to drag on forever—when we should be engaged and laughing, we feel overwhelmed and exhausted.

What does work in the film is the witty rapport between the characters. The script, written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg (they previously penned “Superbad”), is brimming with dialogue that is not only funny and inventive but completely real. Rogen, basically playing himself, does little here that we haven’t seen him do in other movies, while Franco is a breath of fresh air—his squinty-eyed, deadpan performance is engaging enough to carry the film through its dreariest patches.

“Pineapple Express” has been directed by David Gordon Green, who specializes in quiet, meditative, low-budget dramas. His work here is strictly by-the-numbers (I likely wouldn’t have mentioned the director had it not been him), and having recently re-watched his debut feature “George Washington,” I’m reminded of what a terrific filmmaker he can be. If this movie has any impact at the box office, here’s hoping that Green gets a more consistent script for his next Hollywood effort.

Grade: B

Directed by David Gordon Green. Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny R. McBride, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson. R; 111m.