"Smelllll Ittt!"

Just got back from seeing Pineapple Express for the second time, my first time being a couple months back at an early press screening. After that initial viewing, I was raving about it like crazy, telling all my friends that's damn funny and my favorite of all these Apatow flicks. After just seeing it again, I don't know if it'll ultimately be my "favorite," but I still love it in all of its sublime weirdness.

Problem is, I'm not sure what all of those people I've raved about it to will agree once they see it. On a second go-round, I've realized just how off-putting it truly is. Here's a comedy from the dudes behind such undeniably great comedies like The 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, and Knocked Up shaking their successful cage. It's hard to truly explain the bizarre feeling I have while watching Pineapple....it's like, I'm never laughing out loud, but I'm consistently pleased and entertained.

I do think, though, that if you've never been high before, the performances---especially that of James Franco, who is frikkin' spot-on here---may not strike you hilariously genuine as they did me. And in terms of tone and aura, I'd put this one in the same "I'm so confused but I really like it" category as Napoleon Dynamite. Random shit happens, and you're unsure why, but you can't help but laugh. Like when Craig Robinson's hired gun "Matheson" suddenly dips his hands into bowls of green beans and mashed taters, or when Franco and Seth Rogen innocently, and high-off-mary-jane-ly, play a good ol' fashioned game of Leapfrog in the woods. And then there's the whole exchange between Franco, Rogen, and the twisted Danny McBride, in McBride's 'Red's" kitchen. None of it really serves any purpose; it just floats around, never sticking to the central plot (two stoners on the run from drug dealers), yet never failing to feel right at home, thanks to the bewildering mood captured by director David Gordon Green.

So I'm curious as to how many of my friends and associates will love this flick as much as I do. If they hate it and curse me off, I'll actually understand why---it'll definitely polarize people. I doubt it'll be hailed as a non-stop laughfest like Superbad was, or unite both men and women in praise a la Knocked Up. And anybody who says "You have to be stoned to fully appreciate it" is fuckin' retarded. That's hogwash. Bottom line: you'll either submit to the subversive proceedings and have a good time, or you'll constantly be waiting for that one LOL moment that may not come. Fuck a LOL; Pineapple is more about great performances, extremely quirky characters, and talents just having a good time making a lighthearted action comedy. And that's fine in my book.

One small gripe that I can't help but condemn: during the last 20 minutes or so, Pineapple derails slightly with an onslaught of over-the-top violence. I'm all about blending comedy with gunplay, but how it's executed here doesn't quite gel the way it should. You're never completely sold on the action, and it's not as thrilling as it should be. Green and company should've studied the final portion of Hot Fuzz; now, that movie absolutely nailed excessive violence marrying cleverly-written chuckles.

Oh, and to elaborate on Danny McBride....dude is goddamn funny. I'm officially jumping on the "McBride is the next big comedy star" bandwagon. His small but effective role in Tropic Thunder kills, he was utterly brilliant in his stubborn assholeness in the underrated The Foot Fist Way, and he steals every scene he's in here in the Express. The line "You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos, motherfucker!" will go down in my history books as one of the funniest movie lines I've ever heard. You'll understand once you see it in the scene's context.

Check McBride, in full-on "Fred Simmons" character (his character in aforementioned Foot Fist Way) on an old ep of Conan. Watch how hard Will Ferrell is trying to hold in his laughter. You can't beat this right here:

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