Cinema has a long and somewhat chequered past with marijuana. For some – principally those who indulge in The Chronic, one assumes – films such as Up In Smoke, Super Troopers and Half Baked are landmarks in modern cinema. For the rest of us who don’t do our weekly shop at the petrol station, they’re films about drugs, to take drugs to, and whose enjoyment is enhanced by virtue of being high.

Now before you go checking that the top of this website says Clash and not The Daily Mail, I should point out that there is nothing wrong with that, but Pineapple Express - the latest sure-fire hit from Judd Apatow and friends - is an altogether different beast.

The film revolves around hapless and directionless stoner Dale (Seth Rogen), who inadvertently witnesses a murder conducted by a corrupt cop and a local mafia head. In his haste to leave the scene of the crime, Dale dispenses with his roach, which contains the eponymous Pineapple Express strain of marijuana – a potent strain sold by only one dealer in town, Dale’s dealer Saul (James Franco). The pair are hounded by merciless gang members intent on keeping them quiet, with only each other to rely on.

Whilst films such as Super Troopers rely too heavily upon the presumption that stoned people are funnier than people who aren’t stoned, Pineapple Express does what none of the afore-mentioned stoner classics do, and acknowledges that two hours of jokes about marijuana is about an hour and fifty minutes too much for the majority of the clear-headed, popcorn-munching public. Pineapple Express simply uses marijuana as a peg to hang the real story on, rather than thinking it’s the reason why people are watching. The beating heart of Pineapple Express is a story of friendship; it just so happens that it’s a friendship borne out of a mutual love for weed.

Rogen and Franco have a real on-screen chemistry, and both enhance their reputations with brilliantly paced comic performances. Rogen in particular is brilliant, and once again fills the screen with his immense likeability and everyman charm - not to mention his rather big face.

Judd Apatow is fast gaining a reputation for giving movie goers the best of both worlds – scatological and childish (but very funny) gags aplenty, combined with stories and characters the audience cares about. Pineapple Express is sure to see his cache elevate even – ahem - higher.

Words: Adam Carroll-Smith