I don’t think I’ve ever been able to
sum up my thoughts on a motion picture in a mere sentence, but
Pineapple Express has allowed me the opportunity: I like
the characterizations, but I think the story is too weak to
sustain them. But I won’t let myself off the hook that easily.
Pineapple Express is an at least moderately entertaining
movie, one worthy of some degree of analysis. How much analysis
will benefit those who have seen the film or influence potential
viewers’ decision to go, however, represent other matters
entirely. Weed is not known to be kind to analytical thought –
at least not the legitimate type, that is.
Seth Rogen
plays Dale Denton, a process server and mega-stoner who finds
himself in loads of trouble after one night scoring new
inventory called “Pineapple Express” from his dealer, Saul
Silver (James Franco). Dale is supposed to serve a summons on
Tim Jones (Gary Cole), who unbeknownst to him is Saul’s
supplier. Only problem is: when Dale goes to do his job, he
witnesses Jones committing an organized murder and panics,
making a ruckus upon his escape. Jones notices Dale’s presence
and recovers a blunt that Dale leaves at the scene, which he
identifies as Pineapple Express in a single puff. Given that
Saul is the only person he has supplied the drug, tracking his
witness down won’t be too hard. Dale and Saul must make a run
for it, understanding that a gruesome fate may well be in store
for them. This, of course, doesn’t exactly go as one would
ideally want it to because, well, they’re stoners who smoke a
plethora of pot. Dale and Saul not only maintain their usual
inhaling habits over the course of the next day, but come to be
involved in a car chase and a massive shootout, among other
cataclysmic events.
Indeed, Seth
Rogen and James Franco are downright brilliant in the lead
roles, crafting characters that are simultaneously the funniest
and most accurate comic depictions of stoners in perhaps all of
film history. While Pineapple Express is regrettably
pro-marijuana on the whole, Rogen and Franco both don’t stray
from depicting how mind-altering the drug can be. Dale is a guy
who fits the profile of a hardcore pot addict: he’s functional
enough in his everyday life, but clearly began smoking at a
young age and never emotionally-developed past that point.
Franco is as out-there as a pothead could possibly be, wild and
funny on the outside but clearly plagued by some degree of
social-isolation on the inside. Yes, Rogen and Franco only
sparingly explore their characters’ psychologies, but they do so
in such a convincing manner that the movie’s comedy is rendered
believable in the process. Pineapple Express is
thoroughly ridiculous, but its leads find an emotional
undercurrent that works, instantly separating the movie from the
total ludicrousness of, say, the Harold and Kumar
pictures.
Much as I
admire the central two performances of Pineapple Express,
my praise for the film ends there. While Rogen and Franco
provide involving characterizations, the movie is as loud and as
basic as they come on an external level. (The exercise becomes
especially convoluted in its exploration of Jones and
accomplices’ assumption that rivaling Asian drug-lords are
involved with Dale and Saul.) Instead of simply delving into
their character’s personalities, longtime writing-partners Rogen
and Evan Goldberg adhere largely to an episodic buddy-comedy
formula. While Pineapple Express finds some humorous
moments in its grandiose action plot, the funniest bits are
forged in quieter scenes, usually stemming entirely from Rogen
and Franco’s work. The best passages involve thirtysomething
Dale’s relationship with a high school-aged girl (Amber Heard),
who he clings to despite their total incompatibility, and Dale
and Saul’s cornball dealings with “pal” Red (Danny McBride), who
is in contact both with them and with Jones.
When
Pineapple Express gets too caught up in its external plot,
its overall ability to entertain dips because hardly any of the
comedy derives itself from explicitly written material. Instead,
the humor is realized in the ways that the actors respond to
certain situations, hardly any of which emerge during the
movie’s stock buddy-comedy action sequences. (The
aforementioned, superiorly involving passages work because they
allow Rogen and Franco to indulge in their characters while
providing clever but unobtrusive dialogue.) Had Pineapple
Express been a more meditative, less plot-oriented work—not
dissimilar in style to the previous efforts of offbeat director
David Gordon Green—it could’ve limited itself to a ninety-minute
running length, likely short enough to effectively operate
solely on Rogen and Franco’s charms. Instead, the movie runs for
a detrimentally long 111-minutes, entertaining all too many
clichés and offering ample time for the viewer’s attention to
drift long enough to miss a solid laugh. Pineapple Express
may be a funny movie, but it isn’t a balanced one. What I said
at the beginning of this review is worth repeating: I like the
characterizations, but I think the story is too weak to sustain
them.
-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews
Review Published on: 8.4.2008
Screened on: 7.31.2008 at the
Edwards Mira Mesa 18 in Mira Mesa, CA.