Segurando as Pontas

A good stoner comedy, as stupid as you might expect, but not really Rogen's funniest work. The standout is Franco, who plays the lovable idiot perfectly, his stupid innocence providing the best moments of the film. The rest of the characters are okay, Rogen plays his regular character, with all the same actors from that usual scene. Some parts are really funny, like the car chase, but at other points interest can drop. It's a good stoner action comedy, not much more.

I laughed more in this movie than in any other of its ilk. Mostly thanks to James Franco. Yes, the James Dean Franco. His comedic timing is startling and his sympathy is all consuming. I think the secret is that we can (Franco allows us) see the human being behind this irresistible caricature. I was totally taken by the strange kind of innocence he exudes. We sense a loyal buddy who is capable of extraordinary generosity. His smile is already an iconic movie landmark. Seth Rogen is also very funny but you can guess that this is actually his character. Nothing wrong with that but James Franco's range is infinite. David Gordon Green makes his "commercial debut" very successfully. The showdown at the end takes a bit too long but all in all this movie is throughly worth it.

I can just watch this movie over and over and crack up every time. The fight scenes are the best EVER. I can't say enough about how funny it is. Watch it with friends!

There will be many who will dismiss "Pineapple Express" as immature, overly silly, disjointed, and scatter-shot. There will be others who recognize it as a bizarrely artful, playful, loose genre-bending comedy with some outstanding performances, an inspired comedy script, and some great work from director David Gordon Green, certainly one of the finest young directors around.

The latter group is correct. "Pineapple Express" is, as a whole, the best movie the Apatow clan has produced yet. David Gordon Green is unquestionably the best director to direct one of these movies, but this is also a very different sort of movie than the films he usually directs. Does he rise to the challenge? He certainly does. I never would have believed that he was capable of directing such exciting and fun action scenes, or keep the movie's tone steady despite the different elements it consists of being so wildly disparate, but somehow he pulls it off. No other stoner movie can claim to be as artful and well-directed as this film.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's much-anticipated follow-up to "Superbad" is an excellent screenplay, but expect none of the realism and resonance of that film; "Pineapple Express" is all about the laughs, and the laughs are certainly here, and they are practically non-stop, with just about every scene featuring some great dialogue, acting, or the sort of incredible sight gag this movie does so well. This is just great comedy throughout.

In addition to David Gordon Green's excellent work as director, the film is technically superb. The soundtrack and use of music is brilliant, and frequent Gordon Green collaborator Tim Orr's cinematography is consistently great.

"Pineapple Express" will be an inherently divisive film. It didn't get the sort of critical accolades many previous Apatow clan movies did, and I expect audiences will also be a little less unanimous. Indeed, there's little of the critic-pleasing dramatic scenes Apatow's comedies have been praised for, and even when they do pop up they're usually deflated instantly with a joke, and credit has to go to director David Gordon Green for his expert handling of the film's tone, which never becomes schmaltzy, thank the heavens. Really, the whole film is throughly enjoyable except for the very last scene in the film, which contains one of the film's best jokes, but is really hard to buy given the state the characters are in, and also more than a little forced. Aside from that moment the whole thing works beautifully, quite astounding given the mesh of many different genres and sorts of comedy that this is. You either go with this movies sense of humor or you don't, and I imagine more people will enjoy the first three quarters of the movie, before the big, long action scene happens, and lots and lots of violence occurs. I guess you have to have a somewhat morbid sense of humor to laugh at ALL of the jokes in the film, but so what? There are also some nice little tongue-in-cheek references to the film's influences ("they messed with the wrong melon farmers").

The cast really give it their all. It was great to see James Franco back in a comedic role, and his performance steals the show. Rogen is good as usual, Gary Cole is a perfect villain, and it's nice to see the gorgeous and talented Amber Heard finally make a quality film (and get one of the film's funniest scenes as her character's final scene). The supporting cast are also all good in their roles.

There are a lot of reasons why "Pineapple Express" won't work for many people, and they will probably end up being the very reasons the film works for those who like it. The film's plot is inherently silly to an extent (although this is nowhere near the "Anchorman" style of comedy), and one must be prepared for an outright comedy and not something in the vein of "Knocked Up". "Pineapple Express" may end up being more enjoyable for stoners and those with friends who are stoners, but it works on its own as great comedy because the humor has much more range and scope than just marijuana. One of the best comedies in years.

9/10

No more James Franco and Seth Rogen... Deeply saddened by the departure.