My Poor Brain

4 out of 5

The first trailer for Pineapple Express had left me flabbergasted. I didn’t know what to think. It was two guys, who seemed a lot like the stoner kids that I steered away from in high school, talking about and smoking some pot. I was thinking that either it wasn’t funny in the least, or that it was just blowing(ha ha) right over my head in stoner fashion that I don’t understand. Thank GOD this movie turned out to be SOOO much better than that trailer made me initially think.

The main thing I keep hearing is that this is a comedy for stoners, and only stoners will enjoy it the most. I have to say that, for someone who has never been into smoking pot, I enjoyed this movie just as much as anybody who has smoked themselves dumb. Stoner comedy has become it’s own comedy form thanks to the likes of Cheech and Chong and…any other comedian who smokes pot. Either Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg are geniuses or I like stoner comedy. I like to think the former is true.

The film starts out by giving us Seth Rogan’s character, Dale. Dale is a guy who serves court papers to people. He dresses up in disguises because, unless the person identifies themselves, he can’t give them the papers. A great intro that hardly means anything to the rest of the movie, which is just fine.

Then we meet James Franco’s character, Saul. By far one of my favorite comedic characters ever. The guy just NAILS the unkempt stoner look and comes off very likable in the process. I couldn’t believe that this was the same guy that played Harry Osborn in Spider-Man. The thing I (and probably everyone else) notice about some comedy actors, including Rogan, is that they basically play the same guy in every comedy they do. But seeing the diversity of Franco in Spider-Man, and then Pineapple Express, makes me think this guy is a really good actor. I hope to see more roles from him in major movies.

The action in this movie just blew me away, in more ways than one. First, it was hilarious a lot of the time. Second, it was GOOD action and it was done well. It reminded me so much of Hot Fuzz in the way that both movies were made by people who grew up on action films. They both took their favorite parts of different action movies and rolled them into one. They manage to pay tribute to AND mock a little bit the action, while keeping it FUNNY. Pineapple Express also succeeded where another summer 2008 movie, Get Smart, failed. Get Smart was supposed to be a comedy, so that’s what I was expecting. But what I got was a few snickers and some okay action. Get Smart I think tried too hard on the action, and didn’t try hard enough on the funny. Pineapple Express kept an amazing balance between the two, so much so that they just blend together into the greatest action-comedy I can think of.

The story is brilliant. As seen on the preview: Rogan’s character, Dale, witnesses a murder and then not-so-silently gets away from the scene. But not before being noticed by the murderers. They follow the easy trail by finding the roach (stoner term for a disposed joint…wow I’m so cool and hip) that Dale ditched out the window. They murderer recognizes the weed as being Pineapple Express, and the plot’s genius unfolds.

You absolutely MUST see this film. This movie is incredibly funny and awesome (note to self- create new adjectives to describe greatness of movies). bye bye.

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