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Last year at this time, everyone was talking about the Apatow gang’s slacker comedy, .nightsandweekends.com/articles/07/NW0700439.php>Superbad. Geeky teenage boys (or at least those capable of sneaking into an R-rated movie) flocked to theaters to see three other geeky teenage boys on a quest to get drunk and get laid. The rest of us, though, just didn’t quite get it.
I pretty much expected the same to be true of this August’s Apatow comedy, Pineapple Express: that 20-something stoners would love it, while the rest of us would just get lost in the smoke. But, believe it or not, I kinda got it, too.
Pineapple Express stars Seth Rogen as process server and pothead Dale Denton. While on the job one night, Dale stops to take a smoke break and witnesses a murder. With nowhere else to turn (and his with head still cloudy from the dopest dope he’s ever smoked), Dale goes running to his drug dealer, Saul (James Franco).
Since one of the killers was a cop (Rosie Perez) and the other one was drug kingpin Ted Jones (Gary Cole)—who also happens to be Saul’s supplier—the two figure they’re in serious trouble. So they pack a bag of weed and make a run for it. But Jones’s goons—and the cops—aren’t far behind.
Despite my general lack of enthusiasm for stoner comedies, Pineapple Express quickly won me over. Though it’s basically the story of two potheads on the run, it’s entertaining anyway—even if you happen to be completely sober. Maybe that’s because it’s not just a stoner comedy. It’s also a buddy flick. And a road trip movie. It’s even a quirky crime thriller. So it’s more than just a couple of guys sitting on a couch, eating Cheetos, and giggling.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the main characters are a couple of loveable losers. Though Rogen isn’t bad as Dale, Franco steals the show as naïve and trusting (and absolutely hilarious) dealer, Saul.
And maybe it helps that the comedy isn’t the typical Apatow fare. While it’s often crude and sophomoric, the gross-out gags and sexual humor are kept to a minimum, leaving a whole bunch of silly and light-hearted (and light-headed) laughs. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it made me laugh a whole lot more than it made me cringe.
The only real problem with Pineapple Express is that it’s longer than necessary. It’s been my complaint with Apatow comedies time and time again: they just don’t know when to stop. And the same is true here. Director David Gordon Green attempts to end big—with a huge, over-the-top action scene. But instead of making the movie more thrilling, the action sequences feel flat and out of place. It’s too bad, too—because it ends an otherwise hilarious movie on a low point.
Still, I’d definitely recommend Pineapple Express over both Superbad and this year’s other stoner adventure, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. It’s good for a few brainless, late-summer laughs—and you don’t even have to indulge to enjoy it.
