Pineapple Express (Rated)

The druggie movie Pineapple Express, produced by Judd Apatow and starring (and co-written by) Seth Rogen, is certainly garnering high marks from a lot of critics, many of them crediting the award-winning indie director David Gordon Green, who makes his debut in a mainstream movie with this film. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the movie "is the answer to the question,"''What would happen if a movie like this was made by a great director?''" To be sure, there are glimpses of the indie inclination to "make it real," but John DeFore writes in the Austin American Statesman, "Those looking for an auteur''s stamp might see it here and there, in scenes that put the action on hold to let our heroes share a moment of peaceful intoxication -- in a sun-dappled forest, say, *or* break-dancing with teenagers. Quickly, though, it''s back to the chase, and the movie sheds any hint of the arthouse." Bob Strauss in the Los Angeles Daily News adds, "Green clearly had a blast on his first big Hollywood production, and the enjoyment wafts off the screen." Strauss calls the movie itself "the funniest stoner movie ever made -- and, so far, the most hilarious comedy of 2008." But Michael Sragow in the Baltimore Sun gives the movie a C- grade and concludes: "How much you enjoy Pineapple Express may depend on what associations (*or* substances) you bring into the theater with you. As an action comedy, it''s just a bad trip."