Stoner Comedy Mixes Laughs & Action
"Pineapple Express" has so many good things going for it, it's a shame it undermines them with odd shifts in tone and a schizophrenic structure.<br /> Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) is a process server.  The job suits him because it offers plenty of time to smoke joints and get high in his car as he drives around to find his marks and hand them subpoenas.  His friendly dealer, Saul Silver (James Franco), is a laid back, long-haired dude who maintains a constant high and likes to state impressive, heavy thoughts that reflect a mind hazed over by marijuana.  Saul offers Dale his latest product -- Pineapple Express, a potent form of pot that only Saul is selling.<br /> When Dale heads off to serve his next subpoena to Ted Jones (Gary Cole), who happens to be the city's most dangerous drug lord, he witnesses a murder and drives off in a panic, but not before he tosses away his Pineapple Express roach.  The murderers, Jones and a crooked cop (Rosie Perez), hear the commotion but fail to see who witnessed the murder.  They find the roach, Jones samples it, realizes it is Pineapple Express and knows Saul can lead them to the witness.<br /> Director David Gordon Green has created a sort of Frankenstein of a movie.  It seems to be cobbled together from parts of several movies rather than a cohesive whole.  The first half of the movie is its best.  The conversations between Saul and Dale are wonderfully surreal, as Saul's pot-induced misunderstandings or loopy associations make for some very funny scenes.  Franco, not really known for comedy (he's the somber Harry Osborn in the "Spider-Man" series), does a fantastic job underplaying Saul and is the source of most of the humor.  In fact, Rogen and Franco work like an off-centered Abbott and Costello with Rogen, the less stoned of the two, serving as straight man and Franco delivering not so much punchlines as dissociated responses that are often hilarious.<br /> The light, comic tone is perfect for the subject matter, and the film moves along briskly until, suddenly, it shifts gears to a violent action flick complete with a car chase, shoot `em ups, and brutal killings.  With such carnage going on, the attempt to blend comedy fails to come off, and the laughs are stifled by graphic, gruesome mayhem.<br /> Rogen, who should win a Most Unlikely Guy to Become a Movie Star statuette, has defined a new kind of leading man.  He plays a kind of man-child -- a fellow in his mid-20's to early 30's who retains a longed-for adolescence.  In "Pineapple Express," for example, his 25-year-old Dale is dating an 18-year-old high school student, Angie* (Amber Heard).  When we see him visit her at school, it is a decidedly creepy scene.  And he still revels in getting high, choosing a job that allows him plenty of time to engage in his favorite pastime.<br /> I like Green's easy-going, episodic narrative in the first half of the film, which finds buddies Saul and Dale -- who don't realize they're buddies until they are on the run from the bad guys -- undergoing a series of misadventures in the woods, during a car chase, or at the home of middleman drug dealer Red (Danny R. McBride).  It plays like an odyssey of two stoners who outwit their fates by sheer luck, clumsiness, and on-the-spot decision making.  When the full-out action stuff kicks in, the movie loses its charm.<br /> Rated R for extreme violence, strong language, and abundant marijuana use, "Pineapple Express" is a movie whose potential isn't fully realized.  The fault lies with director Green, who takes an obvious road in the movie's third act rather than drawing upon more original means to tie the plot together.  The film reminds me of a student who writes a well crafted essay but, getting tired of thinking by 3 A.M., hastily scribbles down a final paragraph.
The movie title "Pineapple Express Two-Disc Unrated Edition," available on Movies & TV, has received an average rating of 4.7 from 9333 reviewers. 
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This title falls under the categories of Movies & TV, Studio Specials, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and All Sony Pictures Titles. 
The additional details include the following in key-value format :
 {"Genre": "Action, Comedy", "Format": "Multiple Formats, AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen", "Contributor": "Seth Rogen", "Language": "English", "Runtime": "3 hours and 49 minutes", "Aspect Ratio": "2.40:1", "Is Discontinued By Manufacturer": "No", "MPAA rating": "Unrated (Not Rated)", "Product Dimensions": "7.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches; 0.71 Ounces", "Item model number": "4444887", "Media Format": "Multiple Formats, AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen", "Run time": "3 hours and 49 minutes", "Release date": "January 6, 2009", "Actors": "Seth Rogen", "Dubbed": "French", "Subtitles": "English, French", "Studio": "Sony Pictures Home Entertainment", "Country of Origin": "USA", "Number of discs": "1"}

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