PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, the pot-blend, is described thusly: “combines the potent and flavorful forces of parent strains Trainwreck and Hawaiian. The smell is likened to fresh apple and mango, with a taste of pineapple, pine, and cedar. This hard-hitting hybrid provides a long-lasting energetic buzz perfect for productive afternoons and creative escapes.”  This observer can only take their word for it, but our bad-taste buds are happily still functioning, and we can report that as goofy stoner-action-comedies go, this 2008 bongload provides a good number of laughs.

Toke-favoring process server ‘Dale Denton’ (Seth Rogen) and his genial, not-too-focused weed dealer ‘Saul Silver’ (James Franco) go frantically on the run from hitmen and a corrupt cop (Rosie Perez) after Dale witnesses Saul’s upline dealer boss (Gary Cole) murder a competitor.

“They messed with the wrong melon-farmers.”

Rogen and Evan Goldberg wrote the script, the cast work it for all its worth. Like any nonsense comedy it throws everything at the wall and not all sticks: some of the coarser stuff thuds and the improvised wrap-up drones past a good time to stop, but there are many moments of laugh-out-loud slapstick and toss-off asides. Some critics carped about the violent aspects, but it’s comic-gore, so over-the-top it’s hard to get upset by it. Rogen and Franco make a great team. Directed by David Gordon Green, who made sure it all looked sharp. The hand-to-hand fights are destruction-derby gems.

“It’s almost a shame to smoke it. It’s like killing a unicorn…with, like, a bomb.”

On their toes: Danny McBride, Kevin Corrigan, Craig Robinson, Amber Heard, Ed Begley Jr., Nora Dunn, Ken Cheong, Joe Lo Truglio, Cleo King, Bill Hader, James Remar, Connie Sawyer, Bobby Lee and Justin Long. 112 minutes.

Made for $26,000,000, this came in 35th place for the year with a box-office stash of $102,400,000. Other silly-side comedies that helped ’08 pass by: Tropic Thunder, Step Brothers, Kung-Fu Panda, Mamma Mia!, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The House Bunny.