First Hit: Although some of the graphic violence seemed over the top, there were some very funny bits in this film reminding me of old funny Cheech and Chong bits.
Dale (played by Seth Rogen) is a very creative process server who drives around in a used dirty old Cadillac with lots of costumes and makeup in the trunk allowing him to serve his subpoenas in ways others fail. He is good at it and he likes to smoke pot – lots of it.
He is in his mid-twenties and his girlfriend is in high school. His dealer Saul (played by James Franco) captures the flow of a stoner and dealer who doesn’t deal anything but pot. When Dale comes over to Saul’s house to pick his stash, Saul turns him on to Pineapple Express which is this very rare high powered pot which only Saul is selling.
Dale leaves and while smoking his Pineapple Express outside a house where he will be serving his next subpoena he witnesses a cop shooting another man in the house. Freaking out he tosses his roach out the window and leaves the scene of the crime. However the man he was to serve is the producer of the Pineapple Express and when he picks up the roach he knows who the dealer is and by finding the dealer he will learn who watched the killing.
From there the rest of the film is one chase after another.
Seth does a really good version creating a paranoiac story from the events happening around him and then acting on this paranoia. James does a great job of being a laid back dealer who comes up with some very quirky and funny lines. The more difficult part of the film was the uneven direction and story line. At times it’s a buddy film, other times a hard core assassination film, and other times a pure comedy.
Overall: I enjoyed the film because of the laughs, but didn’t think it had a cohesive story line and its violence, although it could have been taken tongue-in-cheek, took away from the thoroughly funny film it could have been.