Pineapple Express (2008)

Story: While waiting to serve a subpoena to Ted Jones (Gary Cole), Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) witness Ted murder someone, tosses his roach out the window, and heads to his dealer, Saul (James Franco), for help. Realizing that they could be identified by the rare weed Dale was smoking (Pineapple Express), as Ted is its only supplier, Dale and Saul go on the run.

Seeing this makes me wish everyone in the extended Apatow family would sit down for a seminar about why some of the movies bearing his stamp are better than others.

The second feature from screenwriting duo Evan Goldberg and Rogen doesn't quite have the heart of Superbad, but it's inspired in its own right, especially in the casting of Franco as the dizzy, childlike Saul, who's just dealing drugs to keep his bubbie in a nice retirement home. It also finds inspiration in director David Gordon Green, best known for his indie tone poems (which I don't entirely get), who manages to bring personalized style and flair to the sometimes visually bland Apatow factory.

There's a lot to like, actually, from Ted's relationship with Carol (Rosie Perez), his cop on the take, to Kevin Corrigan's L'Oreal Man Pouf, but the best part might be Danny R. McBride as Red, the middle man between Ted and Saul. His hilariously deft take on a guy who can't quite figure out what side to be on should be the launch of a long and storied supporting actor career.

Perhaps the only knock against this movie is the long and somewhat indifferently shot violent, slapstick, gross out third act though it includes plenty of well done references to Hot Fuzz. On the other hand, I love that they stick to their roots in the finale with no one discovering hidden potential. The movie nails the details of not only stoner culture (from Dale's monologue/rant on how pot makes everything better to the pitch perfect breakfast scene that closes the movie) but also of 20 somethings culture. B+