Pineapple Parcel Post

Perhaps I'm jut naive, but I really would have liked to see an actual pineapple in this movie. I know that Pineapple Express is just the name for the titular marijuana that gets the protagonists into the mess they're in, and whose nomenclature is explained in halting attempts by now-professional stoner actor James Franco, but some wild part of me hoped for some random fruit in this flick. Alas, not much fruit appeared and I had to make do with an exploded raspberry smoothie/slushie.

Granted, we all knew we were in for a different ride than straight comedy by the trailer's own admission. A continuation of the eerily real-life comedy style of Superbad, Judd Apatow has Seth Rogen and James Franco as pothead Dale and dealer Saul, respectively, on the run from bad guys, in what plays out like a stoner comedy wandered into an action movie and went with it because there was a bowl of Chee-tos on the far side of the set.

I know I was lured at the possibility of this being the first stoner caper film to date. While I was let down in this category as much as the pineapples, I didn't walk away completely empty-handed.

James Franco was a true delight throughout, no longer shackled by second-fiddle status in the Spider-man franchise, and exercises his bizarre mix of cute but not-quite-cute-enough looks to terrific results. As the easy-going, easy-thinking Saul, Franco makes a pot dealer everyone in college met at one time or another. Saul is your buddy, non-threatening and only a threat when provoked, which he is quick to apologize for later, you can't help but feel you stepped over this guy when visiting at a friend's house, looking back to make sure, that yep, that's a bong and, yep, he just took a hit. It's the kind of realistic, rich character Apatow's crew brought to fame in Superbad.

The other treat of the movie were those characters. Whatever gift the crew on Superbad had for characterization, they were sure to bring it to this movie in full force. Not a person walked on screen, not a line delivered by an extra, not a scene was shot that didn't make you wonder what the story was to persons x, y, and z. Everyone walks on fully formed and ready for action, never a plot device or contrivance in sight, for they're all products of a sharp, character-driven script.

The flip side to this is when you have so many interesting characters and you have so much interesting story, you run the real risk of either a) overloading the audience or b) overloading the movie. Since I don't see this as the kind of film to attract Rhodes Scholars, I'm gong to hand over "b" as the harsh element to what otherwise could have been a smooth hit.

As said before, Pineapple Express runs like a stoner comedy that wandered into an action flick, but it also dives into clever character development, then turns sideways to hit on old movie references most of the younger audience is probably going to miss. Playing at so many games at once, you can't help but feel like you're watching a vaudeville lady who's got one really good act and is starting to incorporate other potential acts while still trying to maintain her original show.

She's enough of a professional that she never lets it slide that she's going beyond her abilities for the time, but you can't help but shake the feeling that if she'd just stuck with the original show and only added the one or two spinning plates rather than three dozen then everyone would be happier overall.

Such ambition should not be discouraged and I applaud Apatow and his crew of misfits for trying to buck the genre a little and see what they could get out of something usually reserved for the paranoid giggles and red-eyed guffaws. Maybe next go round when they mix and match what they want to make, they'll just stick with the two new spinning plates.