Review of Pineapple Express (2008) by Ben H — 18 Feb 2012

Yeah I didn't like this movie ... AT ALL! I wanted to see Vicky Christina Barcelona but my company was screening it for employees the following week so I went to see this instead. I wanted to see it but I've seen enough Apatow production weed comedies that I would wait until DVD so my expectations weren't high going into this film and I DIDN'T get the little that I was expecting either.

I respect Judd Apatow as one of the best comedic directors and the fact that he has a production company/service, yeah service, where he's got all these young talented guys/writers (Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, etc.) helping him bang out comedies like it's a bodily funciton, I respect that to the nth degree. So just to sit back and let other people direct comedic movies (ie, Pineapple Express, Drillbit Taylor, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc.) that you approve of and have your young talent write is SUCH A SMART MOVE!! As a former business major in college I can TOTALLY respect that.

But I just didn't care for this one in particular.

I don't know how people thought Franco's character was funny, he probably smokes weed a lot but is not a pothead so I couldn't relate to his character. But it's called acting right? So like just get into the character and make us believe that you are ... still didn't buy it. Seth Rogen was the only character I believed, simply because he was being himself. He's a pothead, and a writer, a very funny writer, and he gets story by credits and screenplay/written by credits for lots of comedies, he deserves every scent of what he gets. I totally bought his character when I saw him smoke the cross joint, he totally knew what he was doing, Franco ... yeah you probably smoke but you look like an idiot dude ... be real! Rogen was real to his character so I bought it.

I'm totally convinced that Franco didn't show up to the Globes because he was insulted by the nomination he received for this award when he does serious roles like in "Milk" where you would think he gets nominated. My mouth dropped when I found out he got a nomination, I'm sure his did too.

Danny McBride was a cute little funny bonus to add to the overall comedic affect but just added to the fact that it was just a stupid comedy, not stupid in a derogatory sense but in a classifying sense. The whole movie was just silly. As a filmmaker I respect the work put into the film, like this was probably one of the biggest and hardest Apatow Productions to pull off, like the police car chase scene, rigging the big explosion, the gun fights, the fight between the 3 main characters in the house where they're breaking everything, that all took careful and precise planning I'm sure, but just added to the fact that it was just ... stupid, again in a classifying/categorizing sense.

I counted 8 PEOPLE that got up and left the theater before it ended all throughout the movie!! Some left early in the beginning when they found out what kind of movie they were going to be watching, others during the middle when they just couldn't take enough anymore, and the rest at the end when the climax was over but the ending hadn't started yet (the fast food scene).

I couldn't believe how some friends of mine said they, "almost crapped their pants" because of how funny it was ... really? I mean are you really serious?? If I was a 14 year old freshman in high school, and I thought the cool kids were the ones who smoked pot and I wanted to be like them, I would've found this movie funny. Because these kinds of movies were the ones that cracked me up as a kid, the silly stupid comedies (ie Major Payne). That's what I think the kind of person this movie appeals to.

So keep cranking out movies Apatow, I would if I had your resources, because there is a following for every type of movie. This one in particular just wasn't geared towards me.