Viewed in
2010
Formats
HD TV
Premise
Seth Rogen and James Franco star as two stoners who witness a murder and are chased by the killers.
Liked
The funny dialogue.
Disliked
The stupid plot.
Thoughts
Overall, it did a pretty good job of keeping the comedy frequency consistent throughout the film.
I was used to Franco in serious moody roles, was so it was a treat to observe his comedy skills as a giddy stoner. Rogen was solid as the hyperactive stoner. But the best performances came from Craig Robinson and Danny McBride, helped by their dialogue. As for the rest of the cast, there were a few recognizable names, but only Ed Begley Jr. and Ken Jeong stood out. In one of those going-against-type "ho ho" casting, Begley played a gun-totting dad.
For being an unabashed stoner movie, there was no trippy sequences. When things got wacky, we always saw these moments as outsiders, which was an interesting twist. As expected, there was tons of drug-related jokes. Most of the laughs came from the silly stoner conversations and performances by the cast, especially Robinson and McBride. Another great moment was Franco getting his foot stuck in a car windshield.
As I feared, the story was ridiculous and implausible. Apparently, drug-taking/dealing can make bullet wounds into mere flesh wounds. I definitely could have used a lot less of expensive explosions and uninteresting subplots with Korean gangsters and Rogen's girlfriend. That was thirty minutes of wasted time.
Chalk this up as one of those movies that was a string of great individual scenes whose sum was less than its parts. Much like marijuana (allegedly), the film made me giggle and laugh, but made me feel dumber afterward.
What I would change
Shortened the shootouts.
