Express-O Bong-O

The Pineapple Express is a delightful throwback to the good ol’ days of Cheech & Chong, whose heyday in the ’70s and early ’80s was propped by movies that brought pharmaceutically-fueled humour to the multiplex.  As we roll our eyes at the increasingly FX-aided cinematic pratfalls of Adam Sandler and even Eddie Murphy, this comic confection comes on like a fresh daiquiri blast onto one’s mouth.

You’ve got Seth Rogen (who also co-writes/produces) as Dale Denton, a process server with a trunkful of neat disguises and a barely-legal girlfriend to boot.   While waiting outside a potential contact, takin’ his customary toke, he witnesses a major underworld rubout pitting together rival Latino & Asian rings.  Soon, he along with best bud/dealer Saul Silver (a wonderfully-used James Franco) and hapless middleman Red (Danny McBride) are on the run from not just gang hitmen but also no-nonsense DEA cop Carol (Rosie Perez, still smart-mouthed after all these years).

It’s bloody funny, and just plain bloody in parts; the explosive final showdown taking place in an abandoned barn housing a top-secret underground marijuana farm (check out the cool black-and-white opening scene, complete with 1940s-era Columbia Pictures logo) can go toe-to-toe with the best of John Woo.  You can never imagine there must be something in “Pineapple Express” – the ultra-rare strain of marijuana from where the film takes its title – that makes its users hardier than common household cockroaches (geddit – roaches?)

Filtered through the deft comic sensibilities of Knocked Up writers Rogen & Evan Goldberg along with producing collaborator Judd Apatow (is this man a fuckin’ genius or what – he gets to wheel in Franco, who appeared in his TV series “Freaks & Geeks” as well as Knocked Up),  The Pineapple Express is a sublime deconstruction of buddy-comedy films from a stoner’s perspective.   It becomes a big-brother companion piece to the recent Harold & Kumar oeuvres, the latter which boasted additional comic ammo in the form of racial stereotypes.  Rogen provides a surprising display of athleticism for his heft (particularly in the abovementioned barn sequence) which should bode good for his upcoming attempt at remaking The Green Hornet on the big screen.

Although M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” (which has been featured regularly on the trailers) is absent here, Huey Lewis & the News make a stunning return to form with the film’s theme song which plays on the closing credits.

Come on board The Pineapple Express – this hard-R thrill ride is worth it for the yuks alone.

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