Mini-Review: Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express
Directed by David Gordon Green
Released August 6, 2008

The Judd Apatow troupe has had their ups and downs over the past few years, the high points being “Knocked Up,” “Superbad,” and “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” and the low point being the insufferable “Walk Hard.” This film has a considerably thinner premise than the first three, but is at least a hundred times better than their worst. It’s dumb at times, as it should be, yet there’s a wonderful brilliance throughout the film that transforms it from a “Harold & Kumar” clone to an absolutely hilarious film that stays on track long enough to remain interesting and viable as a movie. It succeeds gloriously where “Tropic Thunder” failed so miserably. I laughed harder a dozen times in this movie than I have in a long time. It’s so great to see James Franco back with his old friends (I’m slowly making my way through “Freaks and Geeks”) and Seth Rogen is just awesome. I love that these people just keeping churning out movies. “Zack and Miri Make A Porno” is next – another thin premise turned into fantastic film?

B+