It’s midnight and you’re in that goofy state of exhaustion where anything dumb will pry a big laugh out of you. You want it to be silly, hair-brained, and non-stop: You want a stoner comedy. The genre, much like the B movies of old, is essentially designed to make a quick buck at late-night showings, its patrons being viewers with puffy red eyes from either exhaustion or illegal activities. Cheech and Chong had their day in mainstream culture, but they were unique. Now we think of Harold and Kumar as the next big thing, but considering that their first film’s overall take was about half of what a Will Ferrell comedy makes on opening weekend, you start to realize how specialized of a genre the stoner comedy really is. And that’s what makes “Pineapple Express,” a big budget, action-comedy that runs on the most distinct of fumes, such a rarity.
Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) lives what would have to be considered a lazy-man’s version of the high life. His job is to serve subpoenas, a task he accomplishes by putting on costumes to fool his victims into stating their real name. The job affords him plenty of leisure time, which he spends listening to talk radio, visiting his girlfriend at the high school she attends, and smoking tons of pot. One day his dealer, Saul Silver (James Franco), sells him some Pineapple Express, a plant he refers to as “the dopest dope I’ve ever smoked,” an herb so rare that he’s the only one in the city selling it. Denton parks his car outside his next defendant’s house and lights up. Unfortunately for him, the man he’s set to serve is in the middle of murdering someone right in front of his window. Denton unwittingly witnesses the act before noisily fleeing the scene, leaving a roach on the ground that he quickly realizes might be traced back to Silver and himself. Fearing for their lives, Denton and Silver hit the road, in what soon becomes an action-filled blood bath as they battle the murderer and his goons.
Producer Judd Apatow might have his name attached to just about every comedy these days, but his brand name only counts when he’s working with “his guys” (Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jonah Hill, etc.). “Pineapple Express” is perhaps the most obvious example of “the Apatow Gang” to date; nearly every actor was also featured in last year’s “Superbad,” with a little help from the casts of “Knocked Up,” and “Freaks and Geeks.” At times, the movie almost feels like a “Saturday Night Live” skit, much of the pleasure being derived from seeing who shows up next.
This marks the third script penned by Rogen, rebounding gracefully from “Drillbit Taylor.” Here, he teams again with his “Superbad” writing partner Evan Goldberg, and comes out with something that is just as crazy and illogical as it is fun to watch. The lazy and meandering qualities of their script cannot be overstated, like awkward conversations lasting for way longer than you expect them to, but just long enough to pull that second or third laugh. Subplots are thrown in carelessly, each having about fifty percent chance of being revisited, or clarified. There are more than a few points when the movie hints at coming full circle, or actually meaning something, but eventually the film decides to go with more weed jokes instead. For those not under the influence, it can be a bit frustrating to watch the film never finish what it starts, but once you can accept that as just being part of the movie, it’s almost an endearing quality.
Director David Gordon Green creates what has to be considered the most artful Apatow film to date with cinematography actually meaning something this time around. As odd as it might sound, he infuses the film with an occasional sense of poetry, but when it comes to the action, he lays it on heavy and it’s much more graphic than you would expect. Above all else, “Pineapple Express” is a coming-out party for James Franco. Finally relieved of his “Spider-Man” duties, Franco dons a dirty look, adopts a snail-paced speech pattern, and comes out as one of the most memorable movie stoners of all time. Rogen gives us more of the same, which, when you’re Seth Rogen, is a very good thing. The minor characters are excellent too, but it’s Franco’s dead-pan delivery and nearly constant looking on the bright side that really makes “Pineapple Express” as much fun as it is. This is a stoner comedy that is good enough to be enjoyed during the day, and, more importantly, sober.