Directed by: David Gordon Green
Starring: Seth Rogan, James Franco, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Danny McBride
Rating: R

Seth Rogan and James Franco in Pineapple Express. (Courtesy photo)

Pineapple Express is a lumpy, misshapen mess so packed with hilarious stupidity it leaves you in a hazy fog of amused submission. Director David Gordon Green takes a break from his usual intense oeuvre (George Washington, All the Pretty Girls) to helm the latest lark from the Apatow dynasty. Written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, the guys who brought us the superior Superbad exactly one year ago, Pineapple Express is two-thirds stoner comedy with heart and one third ’80s action movie with heart. The heart will feel familiar—it’s the same strain of genuine male affection that imbued Superbad. And luckily, once again we believe it. By the time the movie teeters from the thin crust of believability into a downright silly A-Team episode, they’ve earned our goodwill. The short-term cost is the emotional payoff. Long term, well, it will probably play better on DVD.

Rogan plays Dale Denton, a 27-year-old process server with a girlfriend in senior high. He also has a pretty heavy marijuana habit, leading him regularly to the apartment of his small-time dealer, Saul (James Franco). Saul is a sweetheart who wants nothing more than for Dale to stick around and be friends. Dale just wants to take Saul’s latest batch—a rare strain called pineapple express—and smoke it in his car. That’s exactly where he is when he accidentally witnesses a murder. The killer: powerful big-time dealer, Ted (Gary Cole). The accomplice: dirty cop Carol (Rosie Perez). Dale runs straight to Saul, who bought the pineapple express from Red (Danny McBride), who bought it from Ted. Now Dale, Saul, and Red are getting hunted by Carol and a dysfunctional pair of hitmen (Kevin Corrigan and Craig Robinson).

Director Green has made his name on moody character pieces like last year’s grim Snow Angels. Yet he claims the action movies of his youth are what made him want to become a director. In other words, he’s not quite as odd a choice to direct Pineapple as he may at first seem. However, while Green does give the movie a layer of naturalism at times, he ultimately can’t corral the silliness into something cohesive from start to finish. And for the record, the finish is silly, but not very good action. It could be argued that Green gave over too much to the caprices of a collection of clever, pot-loving guys who have more creativity than they do restraint. A key factor in the assessment of Apatow comedies is how effectively the madness is controlled. It’s a trade-off, of course—let them run wild and you’ll get moments of inspired nonsense you would have otherwise missed. Green lets them run wild, gets those moments, and sacrifices the overall integrity of the movie. But those moments are pretty darn funny.

Those who know James Franco only through his role as Spiderman nemesis Harry Osborne will finally get a taste of the guy we Freaks & Geeks fans have been talking up for a decade. Franco doesn’t quite walk away with Pineapple, but he is the best thing in it. Saul is as lovable as he is utterly unreliable. Rogan is good, too, as Dale. Franco’s old Freaks & Geeks castmate still seems like someone you know up on a giant movie screen. But he also really plays only one thing, and risks burning us out. Danny McBride started out in Green’s All the Real Girls and quickly made his way into the Apatow/Stiller gang with parts in Drillbit Taylor and the upcoming Tropic Thunder. He’s an odd one, carrying on the comic tradition of being incredibly obnoxious yet somehow likable. The steadfast Gary Cole is fine as the bad guy, except that Gary Cole isn’t paid to be fine. He’s supposed to steal scenes, and that doesn’t happen this time. Cole and the miscast Rosie Perez play their roles in a state of slight discomfort, like they didn’t get enough time to rehearse. Corrigan (Grounded For Life, Superbad) seems to be channeling a humorless Christopher Walken as the more cold-blooded of the two inept hitmen. Craig Robinson, so good as Daryl on The Office (“we use tickle fingers”), is more fun as the overly sensitive hitman.

If you plan to see Pineapple Express, I recommend going to a late show with a full house. Our audience was wonderfully over-supportive, yet even they were a bit worn out by the end. Ultimately, Pineapple Express offers more smiles than belly laughs. Not that it’s so bad to leave a movie smiling.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.