Earning its trust is yet another mountainous challenge.

Following the surprise ‘sleeper’ success of 2007’s Knocked Up, comedy screenwriters Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow look to pick up the gauntlet with Pineapple Express.

Ultimately, whether studios will sustain their support and bankroll the duo’s future projects will be influenced by box office receipts. But delivering a witty, original product would do the makers no harm.

Unfortunately, they fail to hit the mark with this slice of weak gags, poor action set-pieces and – unforgivably for a comedy – a pedestrian pace.

The recipe for Pineapple Express is routine and thoroughly predictable.

Rogen stars as stoner Dale Denton, whose pot addiction is serviced by dealer Saul Silver (James Franco), who introduces him to his best grade A narcotic called Pineapple Express.

After a series of lame one-liners, the stoners soon find themselves on the run after witnessing a murder committed by a drug lord (the reliable Gary Cole) and a corrupt police officer (Rosie Perez, who has barely aged after being out of the spotlight for over a decade).

The rare weed leads the heels to Dale and Saul, and the plot follows the time-honoured path of rogues-on-the-run.

And it is within the framework of this simple narrative structure that the movie’s failings become apparent.

One of the strengths of Knocked Up was its ability to showcase a simple comedic formula – the lead actors fall out and then make up. It was a linear, one-note movie and struck every chord.

Here the same writers ask the viewer to buy a buddy movie, an action flick, and a drugs drama.

As a consequence it quickly loses its identity, and becomes less than the sum of its constituent parts.

The movie’s silver lining is the excellent turn from Franco, previously best known for Indie dramas and as Spiderman’s psychotic nemesis Harry Osborn.

In his first foray into bawdy comedy, his constant state of drug-fuelled, hippie euphoria reduces Rogen to a bumbling support act.

It is, however, fun to see him as an action hero in the third act, and his riotous punch-up with Cole is refreshingly violent, filtering Pulp Fiction realism with anarchic comedy.

The thin plot and low-value effects also make for an interesting island in an ocean of glistening, superhero summer blockbusters.

But those wanting a buddy/chase movie would be better served re-watching Lethal Weapon or finding Midnight Run and Tango and Cash on DVD.

This is an uneven mess, and is only occasionally entertaining. One leaves the cinema with the impression that the writing duo should have spent longer on the screenplay; there just aren’t enough gags for the £6 ticket price.

by Aidan Townsend

Star rating H