You have to laugh
at tasteless film

At the Movies
By Senitra Horbrook

Knowing Pineapple Express was penned by the guys who wrote the super-funny Superbad last year, I had "high" hopes for this stoner comedy.
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg had managed to breathe new life into the high-school sex comedy, and I’d hoped they would do the same for the stoner comedy in Pineapple Express.
If you liked Superbad and Knocked Up, get ready for more laughs in Pineapple Express. I said this about last week’s Step Brothers, but like most movies with a Judd Apatow link (he’s a producer of Pineapple Express), the humor is mature, with drugs taking the place of his usual sex-related content.
The movie’s title is named for a potent type of marijuana. If you want a funny description of the Pineapple Express itself, go to Sony’s Web site and check out the restricted red-band trailer for the film.
Adult males and stoner types probably will have the most fun at Pineapple Express. For those like me who are neither male nor a stoner type, the movie is still outrageously funny and not worth writing off.
The story focuses on stoner Dale Denton (Rogen) and his dealer Saul (James Franco). Saul has just hooked Dale up with the Pineapple Express. Dale, a process server, has been ordered to serve lawsuit papers to Ted Jones, but as he’s enjoying the final few hits of his Pineapple Express, he witnesses Jones (Gary Cole) and a cop (Rosie Perez) murder someone. In his haste to leave, Dale crashes into cars around him and drops his roach on the ground.
Jones and the cop send two guys to track down Dale, who has driven straight to Saul’s house. He and Dale flee and spend the movie trying to outrun the killers gunning for them. Saul’s supplier Red (Danny McBride) joins him and Dale as they try to get away from the killers, and it adds numerous funny moments.
While the movie can be labeled as offensive, there is one part that is particularly tasteless — so be warned. Saul and Dale find themselves a little hard up for cash, so they sell some Pineapple Express to children who appear to be middle-school age.
If you’ve seen pictures of Franco in the media, you know he usually plays clean-cut pretty boys like Harry Osborn from the Spider-Man movies, but he turns that image of himself upside down in Pineapple Express. He’s grungy, with long stringy hair, and he wears the same pajama-type outfit throughout the movie.
This look, combined with his surprisingly good comedic performance, helps explain why Pineapple Express is worth seeing.
Rogen and Franco worked together nine years ago on the TV series Freaks and Geeks (which I’ve never seen, but plan to check out). In Pineapple Express, they have nice buddy chemistry together; it even looks like they had a lot of fun making this movie.
Similar to Seth and Evan’s friendship in Superbad, this movie definitely has a few "awww, how sweet" moments between Dale and Saul as they go from a client/dealer relationship to good friends.
Pineapple Express is basically a stoner, shoot-’em-up comedy with a heart. It’s definitely an odd combination, but it works well here, with two hours filled with laugh-out-loud moments. ••
Movie Grade: B+