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‘Pineapple Express' and feeling tropical

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Sometimes when I get movie invites and I am logging them onto my calendar, I wonder what I might be doing so as to have a reason not to attend the screening. With two films --”Pineapple Express” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco and “Tropic Thunder” starring my least favorite actor (Ben Stiller) and one of my favorite actors (Robert Downey Jr.) - I searched for excuses, but I am glad I found none. Just a few days before the screenings, I had joked with a friend, who wants to write reviews, because she wants to pick and choose the films she sees. “No can do,” I told her. She, like the rest of us, needs to take the good with the bad and in fact, I feel lucky, because I laughed like crazy in both “Pineapple Express” and “Tropic Thunder” - and I did not even want to see either.

I liken “Pineapple Express” to a “Cheech and Chong movie meets Rambo.” Seth Rogen and James Franco make for a great comedy combination. Rogen plays Dale Denton, a man who makes his living delivering court summonses and who spends a great deal of his time getting high - not much different from other Rogen characters, but then if it works Š. It is Franco who surprised me as Saul Silver, Dale's pot dealer. Franco, best know for his role as Harry Osborn/the New Goblin in the “Spiderman” film series, typically plays more serious people, but in “Pineapple Express,” he is a fun-loving, likable stoner, who because of Dale being in the wrong place at the wrong time, ends up running for his life from a bad cop (a miscast Rosie Perez) and Saul's drug source (Gary Cole).

On its surface, “Pineapple Express” is another stoner comedy, but at its heart it is an 80s-style buddy comedy that, while not always perfect, offers some great, fun moments for everyone. Sure, the premise is wild and the script a bit choppy, but Rogen and Franco look like they are having a blast and we get to enjoy the ride - bumpy as it may be.

After getting high with Saul, Dale (coincidentally) attempts to deliver a summons to the house of the man, Ted Jones, who supplies Saul with his pot - namely a quality weed called “pineapple express.” While getting high before going to the door, Dale sees a female cop drive up and ducks down in his car, but then he watches in shock as the policewoman shoots down an Asian man in cold blood. Dale bolts, but not before crashing into the cop's car and leaving behind evidence (a roach of pineapple express) that leads Jones, his lady cop and henchmen straight to Saul and him - and the chase is on.

A friend of mine complained that Rogen - who also co-wrote the screenplay with Evan Goldberg - is stuck in a rut with his characters and I agree, but as with actors like Brendan Fraser, if it makes money and is funny, why not? I found him darned humorous alongside Franco who seems to have innate comedic flair. Their banter quite often feels improvised and it works well, because they bounce nicely off of each other, and the dialogue feels funnier and more natural because of it Danny McBride (“The Foot Fist Way” and also “Tropic Thunder”) co-stars as Saul's friend Red, who turns on him and then later steps up, also adlibs a great deal. Like Rogen, McBride plays similar characters, but he, too, is quite funny.

Producer Judd Apatow once again succeeds in giving his audiences a hilarious dose of quotable, laugh-out-loud, asinine fare. Like “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” the R-rated “Pineapple Express” offers a few layers beyond the obvious slapstick stoner story. In other words, the “stoner” part of the action-comedy fails to really encompass the heart (and there is a heart) of the film. This is not just a movie for potheads. Earlier, I mentioned the “Cheech and Chong/Rambo” comparison and I am not far off the mark. After things get rolling, “Pineapple Express” turns from stoner/buddy comedy, to action hero film and the ride is amusing, wild and even touching at times.

I liked “Tropic Thunder” a tad better, but both films gave me leave to laugh, and everyone needs a good laugh. “Pineapple” Director David Gordon Green one of Apatow's regulars, makes this somewhat unwieldy low-grade stoner comedy more of a fun-loving, buddy film for intelligent audiences. Will it appeal to everyone? Not by a long shot, but with trash like “Step Brothers” muddying up the water, I say “Pineapple Express” is a superior choice. I am placing a B- in my grade book. I had fun.

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