Rye Silverman follows the jokers, the smokers, and the midnight toker’s for a ride on the Pineapple Express
Pineapple Express trades the sex obsessed teenagers of Superbad for a pair of twentysomethings who have married Mary Jane. Seth Rogen, who cowrote both films with Evan Goldberg, plays Dale, a burned out process server who accidentally witnesses a drug kingpin committing murder, and leaves a roach at the scene of the crime which allows said kingpin to track Dale down via his dealer, Saul, played by James Franco. Dale and Saul go on the run. This pretty much sums up the “plot” aspect of the movie.
But this is not a bad thing. While the movie does build towards a more than fairly suspenseful climax, the focus is never truly on what is happening but rather how it is happening. It is packed full of physical comedy, over the top emotional revelations, and plenty of pot smoke. While the Apatow obligatory sex jokes are still around, they don’t dominate the script this time around, pushed aside by marijuana and even more so the other Apatow mainstay: male camaraderie.
With the term “Bromance” becoming more and more popular, movies like Pineapple Express seem to have no better description than “Bromantic Comedy,” a movie in which any romantic subplot is inconsequential compared to the importance of the relationship between the heterosexual male leads. It takes the buddy movie concept to a whole new level.
It is because the Bromantic chemistry between Rogen and Franco works that the movie itself works. Express has a built in audience of stoners due to its marquee nature as a “pot movie,” but it was still enjoyable to this non pot head because of clever dialogue, physical gags that don’t rely on the simple gross out factor, a phenomenal supporting cast (including a fantastic cameo from Ed Begley Jr. ) and just a general air of having a good time, as smoke filled as that air is.
Grade: B+