www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/sep/12/comedy1Only news of a Freebie and the Bean remake directed by Terrence Malick could have astonished me more. David Gordon Green, who secured my swooning admiration for his serenely beautiful first feature George Washington in 2000, and a basic level of fandom ever since for his high arthouse cine-Americana, has taken the directorial reins, or maybe just taken the cheque, for a stoner comedy thriller produced by Judd Apatow. Seth Rogen and James Franco play two dopeheads on the run from serious bad guys.
Really, it could have been directed by anyone, although one gentle mini-montage of Rogen and Franco clowning around in a forest at dawn does look a bit like what I must now think of as the Master's early work. Watching this without having got stoned first is like watching a 3D movie without the special glasses. There are a few moderate laughs (and a nice Jude Law gag) but the full-on gory violence is disconcerting and unfunny.
"Pineapple Express, another thundering juggernaut of bad taste, post-teen humour and arrested development from the team responsible for Knocked Up, Superbad and Drillbit Taylor."
"The film is disjointed and out of whack. It never settles on a style or a rhythm."
"There's no way that someone like Angie would be going out with Dale, and no reason story-wise for even pretending that she might."
"Pineapple Express has its fair share of laughs, but it's a fundamentally heartless and unlovable minor work from Team Apatow."
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