Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Pineapple Express - Movie Review

pineappleexpress
Hey, hey, hey...back with some more movie reviews. This time around we got Pineapple Express, a movie that I am quite fond of. There are two reviews posted; one from a friend of mine and the other from an expert movie reviewer. You decide who's the expert and well, who's my friend.

- John Darko

Review #1 by Jason Baxter

I was high when I saw it. It made me laugh. Get high before you go see this flick. That's the only recommendation one could make based on this movie. I could describe the plot, characters, and so on, but who cares? I sure don't. Just go see it! It's a very good film, I've seen it twice. Cant wait to get it on DVD. I must admit, I didn't like the third act comprised of action scenes, but oh well I can see why they did it. Just go see go see the ******* thing already. Peace.

EXTRA TIDBIT: MY FAVORITE STONER COMEDY SINCE
THE WICKER MAN

Review #2 by lou.lumenick@nypost.com

FREQUENTLY hilarious, occasionally sweet and often graphically violent, "Pineapple Express" may not be the greatest stoner movie ever made, but it will do perfectly well until we get another hit of Harold and Kumar.

PHOTO GALLERY: Pineapple Express

PHOTO GALLERY: Stoner Movies

Seth Rogen and James Franco have terrific chemistry as, respectively, a semi-straight stoner and the addled drug dealer who finally achieves his goal of becoming the stoner's pal when the two are obliged to go on the run from a band of killers.

Director David Gordon Green, better known for micro-budgeted indie dramas like "All the Real Girls," tries to freshen up the comedic formula by injecting fairly realistic violence. It doesn't always work, but at least this isn't an unfunny mess like "Bad Boys 2."

This is the first movie from the Judd Apatow factory - he produced it and it was written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who did the honors for the more consistently hilarious "Superbad" last summer - that doesn't look like a TV show, thanks to Green's gifted longtime cinematographer Tim Orr.

Rogen plays Dale, a slightly more mature version of his slacker character in "Knocked Up."

Dale actually wears a tie and has a job as a process server, though he frequently lights up in his car between assignments and dates a girl (Amber Heard) in high school.

Dale warily keeps his distance from his spacey pot dealer Saul, delightfully played by James Franco without the almost unvarying intensity the actor has affected since he played James Dean on TV.

But Dale makes the mistake of accepting a sample of very rare and ultra-potent weed called "Pineapple Express" from Saul, who observes that smoking it "is like killing a unicorn."

Dale drops the doobie in a panic when he later witnesses a drug mogul (Gary Cole) and a dirty cop (Rosie Perez) murder an assassin sent by rival Chinese dealers.

The rarity of the drug - and Saul's none-too-trustworthy middleman (Danny McBride, who comes close to upstaging the leads ) - lead the mogul's henchmen straight to Dale and Saul.

pineapple express pictures The movie's recurring theme is that their attempts at flight are, uh, hindered their constant sampling of Pineapple Express.

In one especially funny sequence, our stoned heroes end up having dinner with Dale's girlfriend and her parents as the father (Ed Begley Jr.) pulls out a rifle and the henchmen arrive with somewhat heavier artillery.

Not unlike the buddies in "Midnight Run," the best parts of "Pineapple Express" comically explore the growing relationship between the relatively uptight Dale - and the childlike Saul, who seems largely oblivious to the danger around him.

"Pineapple Express" nearly jumps the shark in a climactic series of shootouts - one character loses part of an ear - in a drug factory, but in the end, the stars' high spirits carry the day.

You may just want to add a star if you're seeing this under the influence.

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

first half of Pineapple Express was about half as good as Knocked Up; the second half was almost as bad as Freddy Got Fingered