Pineapple Express (David Gordon Green, 2008)

I’ve seen this movie 3 times now, and personally with each viewing of it, it just gets better and better. Now it’s really hard for me not to like a Judd Apatow movie, I just seem to love all of his movies, with Drillbit Taylor being the only odd one out so far. This is a stoner comedy that I really love, I’m sure it’d probably get ever better if you’re high, but I guess I’ll never be able to find out. What I really loved about this one though, is that this is the first Apatow movie to actually make me laugh at least once in every scene, Superbad was close to achieving that, but it just didn’t quite. But one of the things that were just so great about this was that it never really seemed to slow down for me, there was always something happening in it.

I was actually very surprised that I loved this so much though, because this really didn’t seem like a Judd Apatow movie. This really didn’t have much focus on sex jokes like all of the other Judd Apatow movies, this really felt like a stoner comedy. Like I just said though, this is one of those rare comedies that makes me laugh at least once in every scene during it. My favorite scene that really stood out from all the others though, is the scene where Dale and Saul first meet with Red at his house. Like most of Apatow’s movies though, it just seems to get even better with a re-watch, because personally my first viewing of this, I didn’t really love it as much as I had hoped. I do think some of the scenes do go on a little longer than they should though, I mean none of them really went on too long, but they could’ve been a little bit shorter. I was also very impressed with how they put so much action in it to go along with the action, namely the second to last scene of the movie, which is a great action scene. This had some of the funniest one-liners that I’ve ever heard though, but most of the comedy in Pineapple Express doesn’t come from the lines, but from the way the lines are delivered. James Franco’s actions while delivering the lines is probably one of the things that just make this movie so hilarious. The best example of that is after Dale and Saul stole the cop car, and just the way that Saul was driving the car.

The biggest surprise in this for me has to be James Franco. I really never knew that he could be so hilarious. I was actually surprised that I liked him so much, seeing as Seth Rogen is my all-time favorite comedian. This is probably the first movie that I’ve seen Rogen in that he wasn’t the best in the movie, but Franco just really overshadowed him in this. I feel that he had the best acting of 2008, some of that may be because he was the biggest surprise for me. Franco and Rogen made a great team together, unlike my feelings about Cheech and Chong (which may change with a re-watch for that), I felt they had great chemistry together. They just seemed like the perfect team together, even though I still do think Rogen and Bill Hader do make a better team together though. I was actually surprised not to see many of Apatow’s regular’s in this, besides Rogen there was barely any of his regulars in this. Except for the small part that Hader had the very beginning, Joe Lo Truglio (who I really only know as that guy from Superbad) had a small part in the beginning, and Craig Robinson who actually did have a semi-big role, I was happy to see that because I think he’s hilarious, and needs some more funny roles. That’s it basically though, except I do know that Franco was on Freaks And Geeks, but I still don’t know if I’d consider him one of Apatow’s regulars. Danny McBride was also a very big surprise in this to me though, I also sort of see him becoming one of Apatow’s regulars, so I hope he does because he’s definitely funny enough. It had a great summer though; I mean first this than Tropic Thunder.

This was easily my favorite comedy of 2008 though; I think this has shown that it holds up better with a re-watch than Tropic Thunder. It may not though, depending on well Role Models holds up with a re-watch, which I’m hoping it will. I still doubt that I’ll like it better than Pineapple Express. This is truly an ‘epic comedy’ though, probably one of the few that I’ve actually seen, which I hope to change that sometime soon. Personally, I consider this one of my all-time favorite comedies, along with most of Apatow’s other comedies. This is a movie that I think everyone could enjoy to some extent, so if you haven’t seen this yet, you should definitely go and try to sometime. I’d definitely recommend it to Apatow fans, but more than likely, if you’re an Apatow fan then you’ve probably already seen it.