"Pineapple Express" Review

I've spent the last few days trying to process and then come up with a quick explanation for this film. Yesterday, KDiddy and I had a brief exchange where she said "...a possible story line from the Doug, Dean, and Andy characters from 'Weeds.'" Which was like a major epiphany and since then I've been referring to Pineapple Express as 'Weeds with Guns'. Which is far more succinct than a typical stoner comedy gone awry and wow, now I understand why people may choose to get high pre-movies.

The first 45 minutes are full of what one would expect from a stoner comedy. I enjoy the genre for just this reason; to watch buddies screw up egregiously and then go through the motions of fixing things in an often goofy and lopsided way. Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen take a dig into the genre by making it dark and at times generally effed up which is a road the pair have never gone down before. Seth Rogen - who co-wrote - stars as Dale Denton a process server and pothead both by day. Saul Silver (James Franco) is his drug dealer who introduces him to an unparalleled strain of weed called Pineapple Express. I won't say here what he compares it to but it is high grade and so rare that Saul is the only person in town who has it and he gets it from supplier, Ted Jones (Gary Cole - and all I could think was 'How 'bout those TPS reports') who is ensconced in his own little turf war that involves police officer Carol Brazier (Rosie Perez) and middle man Red (Danny McBride). When Dale catches Ted and Carol staking their claim, you know, with a gun, he speeds off and leaves behind a roach with Pineapple Express which turns into a game of cat and mouse - Red, Dale and Saul as the mice - with the added bonus of being high.

It wasn't the cat and mouse part that bothered me because that was expected, it was the way it all went from silly and funny to whoa, dude, that's kind of fucked up. Thus naturally leaving me to question how many people in the theater were of sound mind and how many people had their funny bone enhanced with some special brownies. Damn, I should have taken a poll. On the one hand it was funny and Seth Rogen delivers his goofiness with subtlety as always. While James Franco takes Saul Silver over the top as a completely stoned out pseudo-hippie. There was just something off based solely on how atypical the story was for Rogen and Apatow. The two are still hilarious without being annoying but the guns and the half-bitten ear and the lack of fear in extreme close ups and blowing off someone's head or foot is what turned the really funny into "Why didn't I partake in the special brownies?"