Pineapple Express (2008)

"I wish we could just go nowhere." -Saul

Plot Synopsis

(from imbd.com)

The movie starts off in 1937 when a car pulls up to an empty field with a large rock. Two men get out of the car, and lift the rock, which reveals a sewer opening. The climb down to a military facility and watch behind a two-way mirror as a soldier, smoking marijuana, begins to reveal very graphically what he hates about the army, but still remains very relaxed and happy. The higher-ranking officer immediately closes the project and deems marijuana ILLEGAL!

Jump forward to the present is Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) in his car listening to talk radio, smoking pot, and giving his own advice to listeners. He is a process server and drives from client to client, changing into different disguises to more easily serve people court documents and collection notices. On his break, he visits his 18-year-old girlfriend Angie (Amber Heard) at her high school, and tries to avoid going to her house for dinner with her parents, who he has yet to meet. When theyre discussing this, a teacher asks for his vistors pass and picks a fight with Dale, who responds very crudely, even giving him the finger several times (one of many funny scenes). Only after seeing Angie talking to good-looking male student does he finally agree to go to dinner.

Leaving the school, he calls Saul (James Franco) to pick up some more weed. When he gets to Sauls place, Saul introduces him to Pineapple Express, a rare form of marijuana that he got from his supplier Red. Saul repeatedly tries to keep Saul from leaving, coaxing him with a cross-shaped joint, that creates a trifecta effect when all three points are lit at the same time. After they take a hit, Saul again tries to leave, but Saul begins asking questions about what he does. Saul explains, and tells him that hes actually going to serve a man named Ted Jones (Gary Cole) right after leaving. Saul says that his supplier Red gets his stuff from a guy named Ted Jones, and it would be funny if it were the same guy.

Dale gets to Teds house, but parks to smoke a quick joint. As hes smoking, he notices a cop car pull up behind him, so he ducks down to avoid being noticed. A female cop (Rosie Perez) gets out and marches into Teds house with her gun drawn. Dale gets freaked out when hears gunshots and looks up at the bedroom in time to see Ted and Carol (the cop) shoot an Asian man. He freaks out and tries to leave quickly, but repeatedly backs into Carols squad car and another car before making his getaway. In his haste, he threw his joint out of the window. Ted and Carol hear the commotion and come outside. Ted sees the joint, takes a puff, and says, Pineapple Express......

see full synopsis at imbd.com

Scenes

 

Quotes

Reviews & Interviews

Interview with Pineapple Express Director David Gordon Green:

So to start off, I really enjoyed the realism in the movie. To me, it felt like it wasn't cheesy, it didn't feel cartoony, it felt like everything was actually happening — right down to the action.

Green: That's good to hear. It evolves — I was watching it last night for the first time in a while and I was worried for a little bit because it gets — with the titty twisters and some of the stuff, it's pushing it to Wile E. Coyote towards the end. But then you see the audience and I think by that point they go with it, where it starts out having that naturalism. But there was definitely a point in editing where we were trying to find that balance.

How do you go about doing that as a director? Are you basing the action purely off of what's in the script?

Green: No, it was a fun script and it was a lot of great situations, but one of the things I always look for in comedies is making sure that the actors are in situations where they have to react rather than them having to pull up a set up and pay off jokes like a lot of comedies. A lot of people love that and I like the Jefferson's as much as the next guy, but to me what real funny stuff is, is putting people that are ill-equipped to deal with situations in frustrating situations, so literally there's nothing that can happen other than funny stuff. The second they're just reacting to the environment or they're reacting to a scenario — so we really tried to engineer that kind of a rhythm into the movie.

See full interview here