Reviewed by: Swank
Director: David Gordon Green
Actors:
Seth Rogen
James Franco
Danny McBride

Movie: 4 stars
DVD: 3 stars
Overall: 3 1/2 stars

Stoner Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) witnesses a murder and soon he and his drug dealer, Saul (James Franco) are running for their lives.

Like all Apatow company productions, Pineapple Express is pretty funny but suffers from an excessive length.  It’s a generally engaging ride and it’s exactly what you’d expect when you’re told that the genre is “pot head action movie.”  Seth Rogen and James Franco work well together and create a chemistry that makes the movie enjoyable to watch, even when it’s not going anywhere.

Let’s be honest, it is the Cheech and Chong equivalent of an action movie so even though there are large action set pieces, there are scenes where the characters are paralyzed with their drug use; from attacks of the munchies to extraordinary paranoia to conversations that literally go nowhere.

Rogen’s character, a process server, witnesses a drug kingpin commit a drug related murder and accidentally leaves his ultra-rare Pineapple Express joint at the scene of the crime and it leads the killers right to him and his dealer, played to excellent effect by James Franco.  After overcoming the inherent stupidity of being a pothead, they manage to take the fight back to the drug dealer and his men.  The story then descends into classic action movie territory with a chase scene, massive shootouts and ninjas with guns.

Seriously.

Video: 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen – I was actually pretty impressed by the visuals in the film.  I wasn’t expecting it, but it looked as good as any action movie out there.

Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital.  Subtitles in English and French.

The DVD features both the theatrical version (112 minutes) and the extended version (117 minutes).

Deleted and Extended Scenes (various) You watch deleted scenes and extended scenes and you understand why they were deleted.  They didn’t take the movie anywhere it needed to go for the already too-long story.

Gag reel (4:55) This was pretty of funny, but seems like a weak special feature.  Especially with the way the Apatow crew makes movies, ad libbed to the hilt.

Making of Documentary (21:07) The “making of” played at times like a mix between a gag reel and a press junket interview with JimmyO and some behind the scenes footage from the EPK thrown in for good measure.  It’s exactly what you’d expect and recounts all the same stories Rogen, Franco and Apatow told the press ad nauseum.  If you feel like the sort of guy who feels like you should be friends with these guys, you’ll want to watch this feature.

Audio Commentary: The commentary features Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen, James Franco, Ed Begley, Evan Goldberg, Rosie Perez, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, and others.  Cast and crew members pop in and out of the commentary with an alarming frequency.  It was surprisingly more informative (about the writing and filming process) than I would have expected and funny throughout.

Ultimately, the film is satisfying but never gets better than pretty good.  It’s certainly worth watching once unless you’re some type of Apatow crew completist.  In which case, then you need to buy this immediately.  Also, have an illicit substance of your choice to enhance your viewing pleasure.

Extra Tidbit: If the Apatow machine doesn’t slow down a little, I’m afraid that five years from now every movie released is going to have his name on it.