Stoner comedy 'Pineapple Express' burns through laughs too quickly

From the makers of "Superbad" comes a comedy that could be titled "Super OK."

It's quick. It's gross. It's violent. It's fun and funny in fits and starts. But by the end, "Pineapple Express" is like a toke of comic ganga that wears off way too soon.

"Pineapple Express" is also the name for a particularly powerful form of custom blend marijuana, and I have no doubt that if viewers had access to some of it before the movie, the comedy quotient here would be greatly enhanced.

This is a peculiar movie, a strange combination of a Cheech and Chong drug comedy and zany slow-motion car chase scenes ripped right out of an old Hal Needham/Burt Reynolds action film.

What makes "Pineapple Express" even more peculiar is that it comes from producer Judd Apatow, infamous for his endearing, over-the-top, gross-out comedies ("The 40 Year Old Virgin"). Yet, it's directed by David Gordon Green, a critically lauded independent filmmaker known for his slow, deliberative and cinematically composed dramas such as "Undertow" and "All the Real Girls."

It may not be a surprise then that "Pineapple Express" is a handsome-looking movie for a frantic, stoner chase comedy. But will anyone in the film's target demographic even notice?

Seth Rogen, the schlubby hero of "Knocked Up" and writer/star of "Superbad," plays Dale Denton, who's one step up on the evolutionary charts from a total slacker. An inventive process server who finds clever ways to deliver subpoenas to ungrateful recipients, Dale takes the edge off his stress by staying high on weed most of the day.

One night on the job, he witnesses a man being shot to death by two people, a uniformed cop (Rosie Perez) and local drug czar Ted Jones (Gary Cole). Conveniently, the killers do the deed on the second floor of Ted's house, right up against a glass wall so anyone passing by below can see the murder.

Dale panics, spits out the butt of his doobie and takes off. Being a drug aficionado, Ted retrieves the butt and instantly recognizes the unique qualities of the Pineapple Express blend. Only one local dealer has access to it: Saul Silver, Dale's supplier.

Saul is played by James Franco, who usually gets roles where he can look pained and tormented. Here, he cuts loose with a winning, affably goofy performance that recalls Brad Pitt's blitz-brained stoner in "True Romance."

Franco's low-key Saul makes a perfect foil for Rogen's overexcited process server. After Ted easily tracks the discarded butt back to Saul, the two stoners hit the streets, pursued by two of Ted's best hit men (Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson), aided by a serpentine midde-level drug dealer named Red, played with delicious self-serving treachery by Danny McBride.

"Pineapple Express" retains a small amount of the good-buddy feel of a typical Apatow production, but the introduction of R-rated violence, even comical, doesn't blend well with the lighthearted high jinks. In one botched scene, killers coldly shoot a man tied up to a chair ala the poor guard in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs." Except the victim continues to talk, as if this was an homage to Will Ferrell's never-dying execution victim in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery."

Even if Rogen's flagellating arms and overacting begin to annoy us, Franco's laid-back stoner-on-the-lam provides the movie's biggest laughs as a low-key character who goes off like a hand grenade at just the right moments.

'Pineapple Express'

Rating: 1½ stars

Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Gary Cole

Directed by: David Gordon Green

Other: A Columbia Pictures release. Rated R for drug use, language, sexual situations and violence. 112 minutes.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=225535">Quizzing your Apatow aptitude <span class="date">[08/05/08]</span></a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="/multimedia/?category=1&type=video&item=189">Dann's video review of 'Pineapple Express' </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>