An emphasis on character rather than situation elevates this pot comedy produced by Judd Apatow and screenwriter-star Seth Rogen (the puzzling director is lyrical indie auteur David Gordon Green). I laughed during Pineapple Express not because a loser pothead (Rogen) and his spacey dealer (James Franco) find themselves on the run from a goofy drug lord (Gary Cole), but because Rogen and Franco are both endearing and really, really funny. There is even a touch of self-awareness amidst the blowing smoke: “We’re not very functional when we’re high,” Rogen laments, suggesting that functionality, at the least, is something to which he aspires.
