Tangled Magazine

Pineapple Express (2008)
Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Amber Heard
Director: David Gordon Green
Release Dates: August 07, 2008 (AUS) / August 06, 2008 (US)
Classification: MA 15+ (AUS) / R (US)
Stars: ***.5 out of 5

It’s the most awesome stoner action comedy of the year – infact it’s the only stoner action comedy of the year. The comedic mastermind of Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen have conjured up their new project, Pineapple Express, with James Franco along for the ride. An unexpected introduction plays out as a 1930s flashback of a underground military operation experimenting marijuana on a Sargaent, a cameo from Bill Hader. Dale Denton (Rogen) spending the day working as a processor server dressing up as the occupation to be incognito when he serves the served, seeing his naïve high school girlfriend (Amber Heard), of course getting high and often visits his drug dealer Saul Silver (a dirtied up but still sexy Franco) for a fix. While on the job and smoking pot outside a house, Dale witnesses a shooting done by a guy he’s supposed to be serving, Ted Jones (Gary Cole) and a woman police officer (Rosie Perez) then drives back to his Saul’s place in sheer panic that the killers saw him.

Rogen is an unlikely action but he pulls it off well. This prepares us for him starring in the upcoming comic adaptation of The Green Hornet. It was refreshing to see James Franco in a comedic role. His filmography mainly consists of dramas and Spidey films and probably the last funny he had done was a cameo in Knocked Up. Franco is hilarious as Saul and most of the laughs came from him. The movie was written by Rogen, his writing collaborator Evan Goldberg, and Judd Apatow so expect the usual funny witty and blunt dialogue, however it wasn’t as hilarious in the previous films such as Superbad or Knocked Up.

Pineapple Express will get you high on laughs. Just try not to smoke pot after.