Pineapple Express

No.

Pineapple Express isn't good. As a matter of fact, I'd barely recognize it as mediocre. It's really too bad, because I like Seth Rogen, I really do, but I like Seth Rogen in the background, in a supporting role, where he belongs. He's really not good enough at anything to carry a film in any way.

I've always found Judd Apatow movies hit or miss, often depending quite a bit on who stars, and what they do. I find that stories that are touching, and have characters that you truly like tend to hit for me (40 Year Old Virgin), while movies that exist simply to make Will Ferrell more money (Talladega Nights) generally miss their mark.

I have nothing against movies about stoners, really, I just don't usually find them all that funny. I think it's because most movies written about stoners are written by stoners while stoned, and as I understand it, being stoned makes even the most mundane seem hilarious. Reason follows then, that something written while being stoned, will not actually be funny. Pineapple Express, I think, stands as case in point.

Admittedly, I laughed a few times, but it was obvious from the pace of the movie, that I was supposed to be laughing a lot more. It seemed, though, that I wasn't the only one failing to find humor, as it seemed the normal roar of laughter one expects at a comedy was very much lacking. It wasn't just that the jokes weren't funny, they more often than not felt forced, were delivered poorly, or were simply just broken.

The story is also pathetic. I have no problem with comedy being over the top, breaking the rules, but it still has to either make sense, or work in the story. In this case, there was nothing.

Finally, I found that I just didn't care. There was nothing that happened in the entire film that made me feel like I should have any interest in the characters. They didn't matter, and were entirely throw away. You could have taken every situation out of the context of the film, and simply re-shot it using anyone off the street, and I would have had the same level of compassion about them.

No.

I'm done. I was sorely disappointed, and just can't recommend this to anyone. I fear that there may even be stoners baked out of their minds unable to find this anything but dismal. Don't think you've missed anything if you haven't caught this one.