Pineapple Express (2008)
April 6, 2019 9:02 AM - Subscribe

A film about friendship. A process server and his marijuana dealer are forced to flee from hitmen and a corrupt police officer after witnessing them commit a murder. The inspiration for making it was Floyd, Brad Pitt's character in True Romance. The Bees Knees Opening scene.

Pineapple Express Marijuana Strain Review

"Dopest dope I ever smoked"

Other Stoner films

Seth Rogen Shares ‘Pineapple Express’ Facts on Its 10th Anniversary

This. Is. The future, this is like the apex of the vortex of joint engineering. It's rumored that M. M. O'Shaughnessy designed the first one - the guy who, uh, designed the Golden Gate Bridge. My second favorite civil engineer behind Hannskarl Bandel: Madison Square Garden... What you do is you light all three ends at the same time... and then the smoke converges, creating a TRIFECTA of joint-smoking power. This is it, man. This is what your grandchildren are gonna be smoking. Future. That - future...

Co-starring Joe Lo Truglio as Mr. Edwards.

Dinner at Angie's House Scene
posted by growabrain (12 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I made it about a half-hour in way back when, but I really need to get all the way through this. It's just too on-point for me, almost perfect on paper for what I look for in a dumb comedy. Does holding Half Baked up as the standard for contemporary stoner comedies mark me as an old? It's possible.
posted by rhizome at 11:49 AM on April 7, 2019


@rhizome - please get baked first - THEN watch it
posted by growabrain at 2:01 PM on April 7, 2019


I remember the fight scene with Danny McBride as the best part. Same for This is the End too.
posted by fleacircus at 8:10 PM on April 7, 2019


growabrain - I'm sure rhizome's been there.

To me, this felt like a "Unpopular group gets popular and then monetizes on their new popularity - resulting in the popularity declining" situation.

But I think that Seth Rogan is overhyped, the new Tarrantino with the slime replaced with coarse fur. Or something.
posted by porpoise at 8:53 PM on April 7, 2019 [1 favorite]


This movie got played on repeat for years in college days, along with Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Knocked Up. It was the perfect storm of comedy for my social group at the time. Not so sure I'd think it was as hilarious today if I saw it for the first time, stoned or not. I do think it has some power as seminal stoner flick of its time. I don't think Half Baked is nearly as funny as it was when it was new, and I'm sure it was even funnier to people who were the right age and were stoners at its release. I think many quotes or jokes from Pineapple Express have carried over into general slang/jokery/references, which also indicates it was good for what it was in its time.

"But I think that Seth Rogan is overhyped, the new Tarrantino with the slime replaced with coarse fur. Or something."

I really have no idea what this means but I want to understand. Can you explain?
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:41 PM on April 8, 2019


"They're both overrated and Rogan is a hairy man." is my read.
posted by ODiV at 1:09 PM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


To be fair, even "Up In Smoke" is kind of a trudge to get through anymore.
posted by rhizome at 2:25 PM on April 8, 2019


Sorry if I was being obtuse. Tarrantino continued to get mad love even after his product stagnated and he continued with regressive themes/ approaches. I have an anitpathy against him as a person, he doesn't come across as wholesome or a decent person - likely coloured by the opinion of a former lab manager's of mine who I esteemed.

Rogan doesn't feel like that he could be some sort of creep.

But he's, I feel, is starting to stagnate or flounder in fruitless directions - not that I ever thought he was brilliance, but I wasn't the same age as first seeing Tarrantino.

The culture around Cannabis was never what Hollywood portrayed, except in a very small circle or parroted by would-be kiddie stoners influenced by movies and music videos. As one does.

With recreational legalization, the disparity between real life experiences and media are going to age 'stoner movies' really poorly, or make them purely nostalgia flicks.
posted by porpoise at 6:09 PM on April 8, 2019 [1 favorite]


Oh yeah, lots of them are not going to age well and seem corny and quaint.
posted by rhizome at 1:08 AM on April 9, 2019


That's true but also applicable far beyond stoner comedies to just comedies in general. Moreso than most genres, comedies are really tied to their specific times and the attitudes of their audience and comedians involved. As time goes on, they lose their edges or become cringey as values or attitudes shift. Superbad was hilarious to me when it came out, but on last view it wasn't as strong as my repeated viewings years ago and I recently saw a trailer for a movie I basically understood to be "Superbad, but 2019 this time." I think that's totally sensible, the folks Superbad was best for are all too old now and new kids got new jokes and issues.
posted by GoblinHoney at 9:59 AM on April 9, 2019 [1 favorite]


OK, I tackled this once and for all for 4/20, and it was not-bad. That cross joint is not possible in everyday life.

I think this will age just fine, it's just barely a stoner movie, and it's probably at least as much a process-server movie! Danny McBride is quite good as the ragdoll that gets the ass end of every interaction while also thinking he's getting over on everybody? I wasn't able to untangle all of the social connections going on here.
posted by rhizome at 6:41 PM on April 20, 2019 [1 favorite]


Danny McBride is quite good as the ragdoll that gets the ass end of every interaction while also thinking he's getting over on everybody?

I hated Danny McBride’s work until it hit me that he’s not the guy who thinks he’s smarter than he is; he’s the guy who knows exactly how dumb he is but still thinks he can fool everyone else.
posted by Etrigan at 7:25 PM on April 20, 2019 [2 favorites]


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