Judd Apatow continues his reign of terror over the comedy genre with Pineapple Express, a fantastic reinvention of the buddy movie, action film and stoner comedy all roled into one of the greatest joints i've smoked in a while.
Directed by indie icon David Gordon Green(George Washington, All The Real Girls), and co-written by Judd Apatow, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, Pineapple Express continues the Apatow legacy of achieving the greatness of what an R rated comedy could and should be by combining great direction ,writing and performances to create a great film.
Centered upon two stoners, Dale a process server(Seth Rogen) and Saul his dealer (James Franco),Pineapple Express follows Dale as he buys Saul's prime product, a high-grade rare new strain of pot called Pineapple Express.
When Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop (Rosie Perez, in a bravura turn) and the city's dangerous drug lord (Gary Cole), he panics and carelessly dumps the dope at the scene. Rather quickly, the good stuff is traced back, which means that Saul and Dale have to run for their lives. Along with their friend Red (Danny McBride) the guys embark on a journey of male bonding, dope-smoking monologues and just plain hilariousness.
In Pineapple Express, James Franco is a revelation. Everything about his character's choices are spot on from the hair, to the way he dresses, talks and his little pot enhanced mannerisms are great. Watching Franco go for broke on that screen also began to remind of a star making turn from years back that turned Sean Penn into a movie star virtually overnight, and I predict the same to happen to Franco who looks to have a very bright future ahead of him. Danny McBride also gives a breakthrough preformance as Red, a buddy of Franco and Rogen, and combined with the upcoming Tropic Thunder and The Foot Fist Way, things are also looking up for McBride an unknown before this summer.
In the end, despite the drug use and some graphic violence ( one scene in particular is getting compared to the Resevoir Dog finale), Pineapple express features great direction from David Gordon Green in his mainstream debut, an excellent screenplay that could at least see a WGA nod, and superb preformances from a great ensemble especially in the case of Franco, McBride and Perez. This effective genre blending laugh riot is so far the second best film of the summer.
*** 3/4
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