Pineapple Express (2008)

A process server and his marijuana dealer wind up on the run from hitmen and a corrupt police officer after he witness his dealer's boss murder a competitor while trying to serve papers on him.

Director:

David Gordon Green

Writers:

Seth Rogen (screenplay), Evan Goldberg (screenplay),

Stars:

Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Seth Rogen	...	Dale Denton
James Franco	...	Saul Silver
Danny McBride	...	Red
Kevin Corrigan	...	Budlofsky
Craig Robinson	...	Matheson
Gary Cole	...	Ted Jones
Rosie Perez	...	Carol / Female Cop
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Robert
Nora Dunn	...	Shannon
Amber Heard	...	Angie Anderson
Joe Lo Truglio	...	Mr. Edwards
Arthur Napiontek	...	Clark
Cleo King	...	Police Liaison Officer
Bill Hader	...	Private Miller
James Remar	...	General Bratt

Storyline

Lazy court-process clerk and stoner Dale Denton has only one reason to visit his equally lazy dealer Saul Silver: to purchase weed, specifically, a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop and the city's most dangerous drug lord, he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express at the scene. Dale now has another reason to visit Saul: to find out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him--and it is. As Dale and Saul run for their lives, they quickly discover that they're not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia: incredibly, the bad guys really are hot on their trail and trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them both. All aboard the Pineapple Express.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | witness | drugs | police | roach | 

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Taglines:

Put this in your pipe and smoke it.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive language, drug use, sexual references and violence

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [fr] Sony Pictures [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Cantonese Korean

Release Date:

6 August 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Piña Express

Filming Locations:

Glendale, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,372,911 (UK) (12 September 2008)

Gross:

£3,611,471 (UK) (3 October 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Apatow Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 117 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During a July 2008 interview with the Orange County Register about Pineapple Express, the interviewer told Seth Rogen and James Franco that he prepared for the interview by watching the classic stoner comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High the night before. When he asked Rogen and Franco if they prepared likewise before making this film, Franco said he prepared by making out with Spicoli (a reference to his having shot Milk, in which he and Sean Penn play lovers).

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Goofs

When Dale and Saul are sharing the "cross joint" near the beginning, they each smoke a different joint. The joint that Saul smokes is obviously thicker than the joint that Dale smokes, but they are acting like they are sharing a single joint.

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Quotes

[Matheson kills Budlofsky for refusing to refusing to shoot Saul when he had the chance]
Matheson: I knew you were going soft. Dinner's gonna be cold tonight, asshole!
Saul: Fucked up, man.
Matheson: [Points his gun at Saul] Well looky here, Mr. Forges. Wussup, Saul?
Saul: Look, I didn't want to hit you, man...
Matheson: SHUT THE FUCK UP! You think you was gonna get me, motherfucker? Huh? You need to set your little sexy ass down and watch yourself get killed now!
Saul: Alright! You know what, if this is how it's gonna be, alright. Silence!
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The film opens with the 1960's wide screen Columbia Pictures logo.

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Connections

References Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

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Soundtracks

"Bird's Lament"
Written by Moondog (as Louis Hardin)
Performed by Moondog and the London Saxophonic
Courtesy of Roof Records

User Reviews

Good Laughs

Pineapple Express (2008)

*** (out of 4)

A pothead (Seth Rogan) and his dimwitted dealer (James Franco) hit the road after witnessing a cop (Rosie Perez) murder a man. Pretty soon the two are trying to get away from the cop as well as two drug lords in the middle of a war. As far as pot comedies goes this one here is nearly the best the small genre has to offer. I'm sure Cheech and Chong would give this thing two bongs up as it does contain plenty of laughs but I couldn't help but feel it had the same shortcomings as other Judd Apatow movies. That one issue with this film, as well as the others, is that it runs too long for its own good. Clocking in a nearly two-hours I couldn't help but feel that the film could have lost thirty-minutes and not much would have been missed. This is especially true during the ending shoot out, which just keeps going and going. Outside of that issue this film contains some great big laughs with most of them coming in the form of pot jokes and stuff dealing with stoners. Seth Rogan turns in another winning performance as he gains plenty of laughs from his older guy. James Franco is the real jewel in the film as he's dead-on perfect as the drug dealing loser who just sits around his house getting high, selling pot and watching reruns on television. Franco gets the look down just right but his facial gestures and voice tone perfectly capture that pot head many of us have met in our lives. I thought Perez was pretty much wasted in a thankless role that didn't offer her too much to do. Ed Begley, Jr. has a funny bit as Rogan's girlfriend's father. The screenplay really doesn't offer us any jokes we haven't seen countless times before and in many ways there's not an original idea here but that doesn't really matter because the performances are what makes the movie funny.