Pineapple Express is the 2008 stoner action-comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that made a fictional strain of weed famous, and gave a real one its name.
Official Trailer
The Movie at a Glance
- Released: August 6, 2008 (United States)
- Directed by: David Gordon Green
- Written by: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (screenplay); story by Judd Apatow, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg
- Produced by: Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson
- Studio: Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media and The Apatow Company; released by Sony Pictures
- Running time: 112 minutes (an unrated extended cut also exists)
- Rated: R, for pervasive language, drug use, sexual references and violence
- Music: score by Graeme Revell; theme song “Pineapple Express” by Huey Lewis and the News
The Story
Dale Denton is a process server whose favorite part of the job is getting high between deliveries. He buys from Saul Silver, a laid-back dealer who sells him a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. When Dale witnesses a murder by a crime boss and a corrupt police officer, he panics and tosses his joint out of the car. The weed is so rare it can be traced straight back to Saul, and the two of them spend the rest of the movie running for their lives.
Cast
- Seth Rogen as Dale Denton
- James Franco as Saul Silver
- Danny McBride as Red
- Gary Cole as Ted Jones
- Rosie Perez as Carol Brazier
- Amber Heard as Angie Anderson
- Craig Robinson as Matheson and Kevin Corrigan as Budlofsky
- Ed Begley Jr. and Nora Dunn as Angie’s parents, Robert and Shannon Anderson
- Ken Jeong as Ken, Bill Hader as Private Miller and James Remar as General Bratt
Behind the Scenes
Judd Apatow has said the idea grew out of Brad Pitt’s couch-bound stoner Floyd in True Romance (1993): what would a whole action movie built around a guy like that look like? Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the writing team behind Superbad, wrote the script, and indie director David Gordon Green signed on after meeting them on the sets of Knocked Up and Superbad. Green pointed to buddy-action comedies like Midnight Run and Stir Crazy as inspiration.
Rogen originally planned to play Saul the dealer himself. Apatow suggested James Franco for the part, and Rogen took the role of Dale instead. Rogen also reached out to Huey Lewis, whose band recorded the movie’s theme song.
Box Office and Reviews
Made for a reported $26–27 million, Pineapple Express opened at No. 2 behind The Dark Knight, earning $23.2 million in its first weekend. It went on to gross $87.3 million in the U.S. and Canada and about $101.6 million worldwide.
Critics were mostly positive: the film holds a 68% score on Rotten Tomatoes and 64 out of 100 on Metacritic, and audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore. James Franco’s performance as Saul was the standout, earning him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
The Sequel That Never Happened
Rogen, Goldberg and Apatow wanted to make a Pineapple Express 2, but it stalled over money: by Apatow’s account the team wanted about $50 million and Sony capped the budget at $45 million. On April 1, 2013, a “Pineapple Express 2” trailer appeared online. It was really a teaser for Rogen and Goldberg’s next film, This Is the End.
From Movie Weed to Real Strain
In the movie, Pineapple Express is a fictional strain so rare that only Saul and his supplier have it, which is exactly how the bad guys track Dale down. The film’s cult following helped turn the name into one of the best-known real strains in the world. Read the full story, including where the real strain came from, in our Pineapple Express strain guide.
Pineapple Express is not affiliated with Sony Pictures or the filmmakers. The trailer is embedded from Sony Pictures Entertainment’s official YouTube channel.