Review: Trio scores again with ‘Pineapple Express’

Directed by: David Gordon Green

Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Danny R. McBride, Kevin Corrigan, Amber Heard

Rated: R

In Stephen King’s heyday, it seemed like he had a book coming out every week.

Writer/producer/director Judd Apatow is adapting this “strike while the iron is hot” strategy to the film industry these days. At any given time, there is more than likely to be one or more films in current release to which Apatow is attached.

The latest in the line – on the heels of “Step Brothers” released two weeks ago – is “Pineapple Express,” which he produced and has a based-on-a-story-by co-credit. The other two-thirds of the writing team consists of actor Seth Rogen and his pal, Evan Goldberg. This is the same trio responsible for last summer’s sleeper blockbuster, “Superbad.” There are similarities here – bonding between a trio of off-kilter friends – and a couple of major differences.

There’s enough over-the-top to make one think of a John Woo film. And there’s weed … lots of weed. In fact the title “character” is an extremely potent form of the stuff. Rogen, an admitted user, says he’s never heard of marijuana called pineapple express but bets that before the film finishes its run, there will lots of strains popping up with that moniker.

At the heart of the film is a classic buddy movie, equal parts “Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke” and the classic Robert DeNiro/Charles Grodin vehicle “Midnight Run,” with the aforementioned action aspect taking up most of the third act.

Rogen plays Dale Denton, a process server who utilizes disguises and cunning to deliver his subpoenas. He also uses a lot of weed. His dealer is a classic stoner type named Saul.

It was Apatow who suggested casting Rogen as the server and James Franco as Saul. In early pre-production, the roles were reversed. Rogen was to be the trippy dealer.

While waiting to serve a subpoena one night, and smoking some of the new superweed, Dale witnesses a brutal murder committed by a drug kingpin and a crooked female cop.

Gary Cole as Ted, the kingpin, is unctuous and evil, and Rosie Perez brings a great deal of tough-gal attitude to the cop role.

When Dale realizes he’s been spotted, he throws the joint he was smoking out the window and speeds off. Ted finds it and recognizes the smell as pineapple express. Since he’s the importer, he knows there’s only one guy who has it, and it’s a middleman named Red, played by Danny R. McBride, who almost upstages the bigger stars. Red happens to be Saul’s middleman.

And so the chase begins.

Dale and Saul contact Red to see what he knows about Ted. Ted’s henchmen contact Red to see what he knows about buyers of the new strain. Everybody soon knows a lot about everybody else, and poor Red takes beatings and bullets from both sides.

Eventually Dale and Saul take him in, and they all go on the run, trying to hide as well as save their hides.

There’s a lot of comic action as the trio tries to evade the kingpin’s minions. But act three concerns a third faction: the local Chinese Mafia that has been flirting with starting a full-fledged gang war with Ted’s organization.

Don’t bother trying count the bullets, bodies, explosions, severed ears, stab wounds or deaths by automobile.

Judging from the previews and the pre-release press surrounding “Pineapple Express,” I was expecting more of an out-and-out comedy. I knew it would be a step up from the endless dope gags of the “Cheech and Chong” movies, because Rogen, Goldberg and Apatow have a decent track record so far. But the over-the-top-action at the finale was a surprise and began to wear me out. I looked at my watch several times and believe the film could lose 20 minutes off its one hour and 52-minute running time.

Rogen said he never expected the screenplay to get green-lighted and there is one scene – Dale and Saul sell handfuls of weed to school kids to get money for bus tickets – that is sure to raise protest from a few corners.

Clearly, this type of humor is not for everyone. But the success of “Weeds,” now in its fourth season on Showtime, suggests there is a market for it.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]