Pineapple Express

Ingenious, madcap hodgepodge. We’ve all seen stoned nut-jobs before, but they were never this nice or this funny. Rogen and Franco have no trouble entertaining us and the twists were obviously written by stoners. A myriad of unbelievable characters, an awesome chase with a foot in a window and a really bloody finale that looks like Vietnam with all that grass. Just more consistent dosage is lacking, otherwise great. (07/09/2013)

Pineapple Express in bullet points: 1) It's like watching your stoner buddies who won’t even give you a puff and you realize how much you actually hate them. Not for being stingy, but kind of in general. 2) All the characters here, except the main duo, are absolutely horribly written, their relationship sort of sketched out but supremely dysfunctional (the gangster and the cop – WTF?), so you either hate them (in the way you hate a complete stranger who accidentally bumps into you on the sidewalk and doesn't say anything) or you don't give a shit about them and you're just pissed that they're occupying the overlong running time 3) absolutely terrible editing, which imho was caused by one of the main characters reliably stumbling in the dialogue and dragging the action scenes (both of them – and bad ones), which implies 4) the film has NO dynamics – the dialogue feels improvised, which is a detriment here, the motion jokes escalate absolutely wretchedly (unlike the excellent trailer), and for every good joke there's ten minutes of wallowing in shit 5) if you’re making a comedy about stoners, you should focus on the contrasts and clashes between the world behind the green curtain and the normal world, not the "when a reindeer meets a reindeer" method. 6) So as not to just throw stones, Pineapple Express isn't completely stupid garbage, it does have its scripted strong moments, like the heroes arguing in the style of "Your wannabe sucks, my wannabe is better", but the filmmakers don't seem to be too amused by that so they go back to the original concept of "Hey dude... moth" – so we're back to point one. 7) Apatow could use some friends already. (11/08/2012)

A few scenes are ridiculously funny (the apartment brawl, the car chase), and even the rest isn't bad. The film is nevertheless unnecessarily long and because of the action finale, eventually the whole sort of fades out into nothing. It’s too bad, but I actually still had a good time, plus I have to appreciate that it did without including most body fluids. (01/24/2021)

A fun, action-packed, lighthearted, never boring "green" comedy. Seth Rogen and James Franco excel as the stoner duo, their dialogue about something will entertain even the "non-green" community. The extended car scene with the two Koreans conversing, with one of them pretending not to speak English, is one of the best the film has to offer. A bit of a weak 4 stars, but the broken glass scene is unforgettable. :) (04/29/2009)

Seth Rogen had a good idea here, but the film itself doesn't deliver more than what the trailers show. It's a pot-filled adventure with all the trappings, which also ends up in the waters of action flicks that it dares to reference. On the one hand, it's great that the concept of total absurdity on a relatively real plot works, but on the other, it's a fact that a more significant intervention from the editor wouldn't have hurt. In particular, the morning breakfast at the end is really idiotic. Regardless, Rogen and Franco are the absolute top of the pot smoker genre. 3 ½. (10/28/2008)