Rogen stars in Pineapple Express as Dale Denton, a process server who loves getting high and his underage girlfriend (although, his dream is to be a talk radio host). Dale buys his pot from Saul (James Franco), an amiable, if somewhat spacey dealer. Upon his latest visit to purchase the drugs, Dale learns that Saul has just received a shipment of a very rare marijuana called "Pineapple Express". Dale is honored to be able to try this new form and leaves Saul's a happy man. He goes to the home of Ted Jones (Gary Cole) to deliver a subpoena, but instead sees Jones and a female police officer (Rosie Perez) kill a man. Dale panics, drops his joint, and returns to Saul's. At the same time that Dale is learning that Ted Jones is the big supplier from where Saul's source gets his stuff, Jones is finding Dale's joint and instantly recognizing it as "Pineapple Express". Jones dispatches two hitmen to Saul's apartment, and Saul and Dale barely escape. Now on the run for their lives, these two stoners must find a way to either escape or appease the men who are after them.

In the DVD special features, Apatow admits that Pineapple Express was inspired by True Romance, specifically the Brad Pitt character in that film. This becomes very obvious while watching the movie. Franco's character is definitely similar to Floyd (Pitt's character), as he loves to smoke pot and sit on the couch and watch TV. (Although, Saul watches two TVs at once.) The movie is also reminiscent of True Romance in the sense that it contains a high level of violence. As with Tony Scott's film, Pineapple Express ends with a shoot-out and many people die.

I place the blame squarely on Seth Rogen, for two reasons. First, he co-wrote the script and executive produced the film with Evan Goldberg, his writing and producing partner from Superbad. While I didn't love that movie, it did have its funny moments. Again, I didn't find the vast majority of Pineapple Express to be the least bit humorous. But, at least Superbad had interesting characters. Who are we supposed to like in Pineapple Express? The pot-addled loser? The drug-dealer? The other drug-dealer? None of these characters are the least bit appealing. (Unless you're a drug-addled loser or drug-dealer, then maybe you can identify with these guys.) Secondly, I blame Seth Rogen the actor. Well, that may be an over-statement, because I don't really think of Rogen as an "actor", as he plays the exact same character in every movie, and I think that he'd love for us to think that his characters reflect who he is in real life. He's always the guy who insists that he isn't very smart or cool and tries to find the easy way out of every situation. After seeing this in several movies, it's gotten very old.

Speaking of actors, it's a shame that so many usually reliable ones were in Pineapple Express, because this movie is a stinker. I've laughed at stoner movies in the past, but I simply failed to see the appeal of this movie. The jokes weren't funny and the violence seemed very out of place. As far as I'm concerned, the Pineapple Express can keep going.

Pineapple Express puts its foot through the windshield on DVD courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.40:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing nary any grain and no defects from the source material. The colors are good and the image is well-balanced, as far as not being too dark. However, the picture is somewhat soft and flat at times. The DVD offers a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo and surround effects are very good, most notably during the action scenes. The in-film music shows good reproduction. The action scenes also provide solid bass effects.

The single-disc DVD release of Pineapple Express contain an assortment of extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY featuring Apatow, Ed Begley Jr., Rogen, Danny McBride, Franco, Evan Goldberg, and David Gordon Green. As one would expect, there is a lot more joking than commenting in this commentary. Still, the speakers do manage to talk about the movie, discussing the budgetary limitations, the characters, and the locations. The DVD features four EXTENDED & ALTERNATE SCENES which run about 10 minutes. There's an extended take of a dialogue scene between Dale and Saul, and a longer version of the final scene, both of which are sort of interesting. The DVD has a 5-minute GAG REEL. "The Making of Pineapple Express" (21 minutes) offers comments from the cast and crew, as well as some on-set and rehearsal footage. Apatow admits that the movie is influenced by True Romance. There is a discussion of how the story evolved and the cast & characters. This is interspersed with comments about the production and Director David Gordon Green.