Pineapple Express

A stoner and his dealer are forced to go on the run from the police after the pothead witnesses a cop commit a murder.

Pineapple Express lands somewhere between a stoner comedy and an action film, and that hybrid ambition is both its strength and its weakness. The first half draws genuine praise for its freewheeling, improvisational dialogue, while the second half's shift into graphic violence left a meaningful chunk of critics cold, feeling the tonal whiplash was too jarring to ignore. James Franco's performance emerged as a consistent bright spot even among more cautious reviews.