Pineapple Express is a hilarious stoner comedy, that sees a couple of stoner friends witness a murder and have to spend the rest of the movie trying to stay alive by keeping one step ahead of the bad guys. The plot stumbles around from time to time, hamstrung by being under the influence, but then it hits the right notes and you’re laughing out loud, giggling like a child. The stumbling plot however reflects on the stoner theme and works surprisingly well, setting the scene for a surprisingly realistic portrayal of what being stoned constantly does to you.
The humour comes from the lead characters constantly being stoned and not being able to function properly, coming to their senses later on in the movie, just in time to save the day – so to speak – but then ending up just as stoned as before.
It’s this whole stoner attitude – that admittedly is what makes the movie such fun to watch – that makes this a hard movie to recommend. There are three main characters, the two stoners and their equally stoned dealer who, though they do learn the value of friendship and looking out for each other, don’t learn there own lesson that drugs only mess up your lives.
On the one hand, if you separate this movie from reality and see it as just a funny couple of hours, you’ll have a ball. However, if this is just one of a series of movies you watch where drug use is promoted as a natural lifestyle choice, and one that just about everyone is doing, then you run the risk of accepting that drug use is a normal part of society, which it isn’t.
For a no brains, stoner comedy, Pineapple Express manages to balance things out quite well, keeping focussed on the main themes and doesn’t go down the easy road of gratuitous nudity and sexualised humour. The lead characters play their roles immaculately, with the only weak links being the supporting cast – it’s almost as if the producer decided to save money by hiring cheap extras to play supporting roles, but this is only a small point as the lead actors keep the audience focussed for the most part and drive this tale of greed, corruption and the avoidance of life to a clichéd but hilarious ending.
Released on: March 18th, 2009 Year of Original Release: 2008 Stars: Seth Rogan, James Franco, Amber Heard, Bill Hader, James Remar, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Ed Begley Jr, Nora Dunn, Danny R. McBride, Kevin Corrigan, Craig Robinson, Joe Lo Truglio Length (Minutes): 107 Media Format: DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1 Languages: English Supported Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo Director: Green, David Gordon Studio: Sony Pictures
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