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Title: Pineapple Express
Starring: Seth Rogan, James Franco, Danny R. McBride, Gary Cole
Director: David Gordon Green
Rating: 18 / R
Release Date: 12 September (UK)

Synopsis: Lazy court-process clerk and stoner Dale Denton (Rogan) has only one reason to visit his equally lazy dealer Saul Silver (Franco): to purchase weed, specifically, a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop and the city’s most dangerous drug lord (Cole), he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express at the scene. Dale now has another reason to visit Saul: to find out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him–and it is. As Dale and Saul run for their lives, they quickly discover that they’re not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia: incredibly, the bad guys really are hot on their trail and trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them both. All aboard the Pineapple Express.

Review: I really enjoyed Pineapple Express, however not for the reasons I thought I would. When I first heard about the movie, Seth Rogan was my reason to see it – that and I like stoner movies (the last of which I saw was Kevin Smith’s Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back… but I don’t really see that on a par with Cheech & Chong – Jay & Bob’s outing was purely a fan movie). Nope… in fact my reason for loving the movie was my original doubt about the movie – James Franco.

Having only seen his work in the Spider-Man movies, I didn’t really think much of him. I didn’t think that his portrayal of Harry Osbourne was good. In fact he almost irritated me. However Pineapple Express is a totally different story – Franco is awesome. Playing Dale Denton’s permanently stoned and laid-back deal Saul, Franco shines… and almost the entire time he’s onscreen, he’s continually putting a smile on my face. There’s definitely nothing quite like seeing a police cruiser steaming down the road with someone’s foot sticking out of the windshield.

Anyway enough about Franco. The movie in general is extremely likeable and funny – Rogan and Franco make an excellent comedic team… and throw in Saul’s buddy/supplier Red (Played by Danny R. McBride), the laughs come thick and fast – especially the fight scene between Denton and Red.

The bad guys in the movie aren’t so likeable, aside from incompetent “henchman” Matheson, played by Craig Robinson – who’s psudo gay-ish sensitive performance is hilarious alongside his stone-cold partner.

The movie is fairly steady as it progresses, never allowing you to get bored – however the end of the movie explodes into comedic silly action, complete with ninjas, gunfights and gunshots to the testicles. [Spolier!] Although how Red isn’t dead by the end of the movie, I’ll never bloody know! [/Spoiler!]

Overview: Pineapple Express is probably one of the best comedies I’ve seen this year, though surprisingly Will Ferrel’s “Step Brothers” isn’t far behind. I’d definitely go and see this as soon as you can – you won’t be disappointed.

Trailer:

Popularity: 2% [?]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 18:04 and is filed under Movies, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.