Pineapple Express

Location: Hoyts Melbourne Central
Date: Sometime Last Week...

Hello again peeps. It's been a long time since I last wrote a review on comedies, and since I just saw one last week (yeah sorry for posting it late) I thought this might be a good time to introduce you to... Pineapple Express!

Again, it's from the same guys who brought you Knocked Up, Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. This time around, instead of dealing with pregnant chicks, fake-id's or shameful breakups - it focuses on... Weed! (or pot, ganja, reefa, marijuana, spliff, or whatever you wanna call it) Billed as a "stoner-action-comedy", you probably can expect what you're gonna get when watching this movie. The story revolves around 2 potheads, Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) and his dealer Saul (James Franco). One day, Dale witnesses a murder while smoking up outside a house... the perpetrators realized that Dale saw the whole thing, and so.. the chase begins.

Stoner-friend to the rescueeeeeeeee!

This movie is a departure from the "realism" approach that a lot of the previous Apatow-produced comedies have been. (eg: 40-year old virgin, Knocked Up) This one feels more like a b-movie comedy - intentionally being over-the-top and cheesy in a lot of their scenes. Not to mention, the action scenes are a bit jarring and it feels a little bit out of place at times. However, I guess you gotta throw logic out of the window to really enjoy this one.

Surprisingly, James Franco was the livewire of the show. His scenes and dialogues are genuinely funny - it really is cool watching him play a pothead since you're so used to see him in the Spiderman movies. On the other hand, Seth Rogen's Dale is borderline funny/annoying to me. Also, lookout for Dale's girlfriend played by Amber Heard. She was also in "Never Back Down" not too long ago. I'm telling you, she's gonna be the next big thing! :D

Getting high in the woods was way too freaky for Dale

This show is certainly not bad, but definitely not great either. There are a lot of pot-related jokes in here, so in all honesty, it could either be really-really-really funny to you, or just plain annoying. I'm on the fence in this one. However, I did find some scenes really hilarious, and there are a couple of quirky characters that's worth a mention even after the show has ended.

To sum-up this movie, it's really like hanging out with a bunch of stoner-friends. It's cool and fun, but if you don't get high together with them, you probably won't enjoy it as much. And so, do smoke-up if you can before watching this movie, it'll definitely be way funnier than it seems. :)

Stars: 3/5 (Add one more star if you like to get hiiiiigghhhh)