Review: Pineapple Express (2008) R 111min
August 13th, 2008 by Maxim · 3 Comments · 3,548 Views
After Seth Rogen and his buddy Evan Goldberg wrote the script for Superbad when they were 15 years old, they also were itching to write a script for an action movie, but with a twist. Nobody has done this before: if an action movie married a stoner comedy and they had a child, and that child married a buddy comedy and they had a baby, then this baby would be this movie.
The plot: Dale Denton (Seth Rogen – Kung Fu Panda, Horton Hears The Who!, Superbad, Knocked Up etc.) was a lazy clerk who’s job was to delivered court papers. He was also a stoner. One day he witnessed a murder by a dirty cop and a drug lord and, in panic, dropped the roach at the scene. A lot of people drop roaches, right? But the problem is the roach has a rare and exclusive strain of marijuana called Pineapple Express. Now Dale has to visit his dealer Saul (James Franco – Spider-Man I-III, In The Valley Of Elah) to find out if his roach can be traced back to him. Both end up on the run and their weed-induced paranoia helps them to stay alive.
The good: Indeed, this has never been done before – quite in this way, not counting Sean of the Dead - Rogen and Goldberg cross the buddy/stoner comedy with an action movie. It’s a mockery of action movie where the rescue always comes at the last moment, the good guys never are quite killed by the bad guys and guns just happen to lay around when you need one. Rogen wrote the script based on his own experience smoking weed in his teenage years, and a shtick with cross-joint is based on reality. Laughs are delivered non-stop throughout the movie. Great soundtrack. Good acting. Dialogs are hilarious. Gary Cole was a great villain with Rosie Perez as his side-kick hitting it just right. In the stoner movie category, it’s better then Cheech and Chong’s “Up In Smoke” and “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle”, though many may disagree or not like this movie at all for rude, crude and immature guy humor, gore and slapstick action - Seth Rogen’s and Apatow’s calling card.
The bad: Not sure if this movie will help or hurt the supporters of legalizing Marijuana. It is funny and the plot is ridiculous, but quite forgettable – Superbad and Knocked Up were funnier. Might watch it again on DVD in a year or so.
The summary: highly entertaining but not this year’s Superbad. A different movie for director David Gordon Green too.
Cast: Dale Denton – Seth Rogen | Saul Silver – James Franco | Ted Jones – Gary Cole | Budlofsky – Kevin Corrigan | Carol/Female Cop – Rosie Perez | Angie Anderson – Amber Heard | Red – Denny McBride | Cheung – Dana Lee | Robert – Ed Begley Jr.
Credits: Director – David Gordon Green | Writers – Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg | Story by Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg | Producers – Judd Apatow, Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, Shauna Robertson, Dara Weintraub | Original Music – Graeme Revell | Photography – Tom Orr | Apatow Productions | Columbia Pictures | Relativity Media
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betrayal | black comedy | blood | Blood Splatter | car crash | corrupt cop | corruption | Crushed By Car | Drug Dealer | drug humor | Drug Lord | Evan Goldberg | friendship | Gun | Joint | Judd Apatow | marijuana | murder | pistol | Policewoman | Pot | revolver | rifle | Seth Rogen | Shot in The Arm | Shot In The Ear | shot in the head | Shot In The Leg | Shot In The Somach | shotgun | Stabbed in the back | title spoken by character | witness
Tags: "Guy" Films · Action · Comedy · Crime/Gangster · Thrillers/Suspense
3 responses so far ↓
1 Review: Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) R 102min | Maxim’s Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog // Oct 31, 2008 at 11:04 pm
[...] (”Catch and Release“, “Dogma“) this romantic comedy starring Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express, Superbad, Knocked up etc.) and Elizabeth Banks (”Definitely, Maybe“, “The 40 [...]
2 Review: Role Models (2008) R 99min | Maxim’s Movie Reviews and Opinions Blog // Nov 10, 2008 at 12:26 am
[...] Definitely, Maybe) | Gayle Sweeny – Jane Lynch (40 Year Old Virgin) | King Argotron – Ken Jeong (Pineapple Express, Knocked Up) | Isabel – Amanda Righetti | Linda the Teacher – Jessica [...]
3 Vintage movie posters // Jun 18, 2009 at 6:25 am
Just want to say that your blog/site rocks and I can not get enough of Seth….ha ha. The film is basically about getting high and it made me laugh 80% of the time. It is best at the end when that guy gets shot about 4 times and then just goes for breakfast instead of the hospital. Great review btw.
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