Flawed, Yet Really, Really Funny

Pineapple Express is a confusing blend of action, humor, drugs, and homage. There isn’t a simple way to spread word about this movie. It works strongly as an action/comedy film, yet there is so much homage going on that it’s nearly impossible to watch it straight through without being distracted by subtle nods-of-the-head to others which have come before. Most of these work very well and will garner even more laughs on further viewings, but it is arguable that the film could have been better had it spent more running time on being genuine rather than having so many scenes of reverence.

Plot: Dale Denton (Seth Rogan) is a process server who spends his free time dating underage women and smoking pot. A lot. He’d rather be a talk-radio disc-jockey than serving losers with subpoenas, but the lack of a real job means he’s able to spend his free time doing what he enjoys most: pot. Saul Silver (James Franco) is Dale’s dealer, and as the story begins Dale buys some prime product from Saul by the name of Pineapple Express; a product that Saul happens to be the only dealer in the area with it. After leaving Saul’s to serve a subpoena to Ted Jones (Gary Cole), who also happens to be ‘the man’ to Saul’s supplier Red (Danny McBride), Dale witnesses Ted and a female cop (Rosie Perez) kill a man inside Ted’s residence. Dale flees the scene and heads to Saul’s, but not before dropping a lit bit of Pineapple Express. Conveniently, Ted Jones finds the doobie, recognizes it as the ‘dopest dope you’ll ever smoke’, and spends the rest of the movie sending his hired goons to kill Saul and Dale.

The real hit of the film are Seth Rogan and James Franco. These two are clearly enjoying themselves (Rogan maybe more than Franco) and they’re perfect in their roles here. It may, of course, help that Rogan and pal Evan Goldberg were both writers on the project. Rogan has perfected his craft of acting like a 20something year old slacker and Franco has taken his pot-consuming Daniel Desario (his role from the infamous Freaks and Geeks) character up a notch by turning him into a fun and lovable, if not a little slow, drug dealer. The pair creates just about every memorable scene in the film, with the exception of a fight between the duo and Danny McBride. Speaking of McBride, it’s a shame how much his talent is wasted in this film. His character becomes a joke of too many clichés, never truly edging out of an in-joke and into the actual movie. While it’s always good to see McBride, the lack of anything genuinely funny happening with his character is truly disappointing. Gary Cole does manage to overact a bit in the few small scenes he occupies while it was very satisfying to watch Rosie Perez get what she’s deserved since the film White Men Can’t Jump.

In fact, the only true flaw with the film rests with the director, David Gordon Green, who spends the majority of the film trying to convince us that he belongs behind the camera. Too many scenes feel incomplete, with the editing and transition leaving the viewer feeling a bit disoriented. Take, for example, the resolution (if one can call it that) of Dale’s girlfriend. They have a fight, decide to end things, then later reconnect for both parties to apologize and beg the other’s forgiveness. Immediately afterwards, his girlfriend drops the ‘I think we should get married’ line, and Dale changes attitudes completely, calls her crazy and hangs up the phone. The joke isn’t Dale’s immediate change in attitude and behavior. It’s not supposed to be funny that one minute he wants her and as soon as she mentions marriage, he doesn’t. It’s in the parody of relationships in other movies. In the typical romantic comedy, that’s how things work out. They fight, it looks devastating, yet they work it out eventually. But Pineapple Express isn’t your typical movie. The problem is, why include it at all? Jokes like this don’t matter to the story, only to the ones who realize what the real punch line is. In fact, the only joke like this that truly works is when Dale attempts to fight the bad guys late in the third act, ‘armed to the teeth’. The bad guys catch him and begin to remove all his weapons, starting with a handgun duct taped to the back of his suit coat. The joke is only funny to those who get the Die Hard reference, yet the subtly of it makes it work well. If only there had been more like these…

Pineapple Express may not be a perfect film, but it’s certainly entertaining for the full two hours of its runtime. Even if you’re not into movies about marijuana, any true product of the 1980s should have already bought their ticket just to see Rosie Perez get the beating of her life. That alone is worth the price of admission.

(On a note, the fact that I despise Rosie Perez so much is a true testament to her performance in White Men Can’t Jump. Go see it already.)