Rogen and Franco were originally assigned opposite roles, Olivia Thirlby preceded Heard, and Bryan Cranston was rejected for Ted Jones as insufficiently scary immediately before Breaking Bad.
In the discussion (2)
- A triple swap putting McBride as Dale, Rogen as Saul, and Franco as Red is an earlier hypothetical.
- Cranston’s rejection for a drug-dealer role became especially ironic when Breaking Bad premiered around the film’s release.
☆★☆★☆★☆★
Roger Ebert gave three and a half stars, praising a quality drug comedy that overcame familiar male-bonding, sex, scatology, drugs, fighting, guns, and explosions.
In the discussion (2)
- Ebert’s respect for David Gordon Green helps the panel frame the film as unusually well shot and staged for its material.
- The car chase’s failed windshield kick is a carefully framed action gag that subverts a familiar trope.
Dale buying and smoking Pineapple Express with Saul wins narrowly over the diner recap, while the 1937 test, high school, phone smashing, cop chase, wounded Red, children buying weed, and warehouse battle remain major candidates.
In the discussion (9)
- Bill Hader’s black-and-white Item 9 test parodies Reefer Madness and builds a complete stoner vocabulary in minutes.
- The high-school visit exposes Dale’s inappropriate age gap and supplies the Goldblum impression, “time to suck today’s dick,” and an outsider correctly challenging the relationship.
- Saul’s apartment scene captures the awkward transition from buying drugs to hanging out, adds 227, red wine, career talk, and the cross joint.
- Smashing and losing the phones turns a simple anti-tracking plan into escalating incompetence, including the belief it is how authorities found Saddam.
- The cop chase and foot through the windshield produce the movie’s most iconic action image.
- Red calmly awaits death beside noodles and blood, discusses reincarnation, then supplies an improvised gun-up montage.
- The long farm battle is divisive for its hard pivot and graphic violence but preserves funny gun conventions and Gary Cole’s villain.
- The diner characters rewatch their own adventure aloud, accurately recreating the pleasure of hungover friends rebuilding the previous night.
- The middle-school dealers’ hostility, fireworks, and adult vocabulary make another favorite scene.
Single-outfit continuity, music, McBride and Robinson, marijuana legalization, restrained vomit, Rogen’s career, the diner, immortal Red, fight timeouts, volatile phone calls, and Saul’s Bubby age best.
In the discussion (10)
- Wearing the same clothes through a chaotic day preserves the adventure’s continuity and familiar dishevelment.
- Electric Avenue, Bob Marley, and the trailer’s Paper Planes give the comedy unusual musical identity.
- McBride’s points-per-minute performance announces the persona that leads to Kenny Powers, while Robinson earns near-universal affection.
- Legalization across most states vindicates the movie’s anti-criminalization argument.
- Small mouthfuls of vomit are defended as funnier than effects-driven projectile vomiting.
- Rogen became a versatile actor, producer, marijuana entrepreneur, pottery maker, and architecture enthusiast.
- Red surviving repeated gunshots and an explosion turns him into a comedy Michael Myers.
- Calling timeout during a fight works first and then fails when Saul tries it later.
- Dale and Angie’s calls flip instantly between hate, love, marriage, and regret in a way one host finds accurate to immature relationships.
- Saul’s grandmother and her borrowed family name make his bizarre personal life specific.
Electric Avenue wins one vote and Bob Marley’s Time Will Tell another; Paper Planes is excluded because it appears only in the trailer.
In the discussion (1)
- Electric Avenue wins one vote and Bob Marley’s Time Will Tell another; Paper Planes is excluded because it appears only in the trailer.
The red slushie, vomited chicken fries, fruit roll-ups, and Red’s cat-birthday cake split the category.
In the discussion (1)
- The red slushie, vomited chicken fries, fruit roll-ups, and Red’s cat-birthday cake split the category.
The old military installation turned cannabis farm wins over Red’s cluttered, cozy house.
In the discussion (1)
- The old military installation turned cannabis farm wins over Red’s cluttered, cozy house.
The foot through the windshield wins over Franco’s worm, the wide drug sale, and Rogen’s wired “death from above.”
In the discussion (1)
- The foot through the windshield wins over Franco’s worm, the wide drug sale, and Rogen’s wired “death from above.”
The cross-joint scene is boring, the trailer promises a better movie, the heroes’ decisions mostly make sense, and Dale should abandon Saul are competing takes.
In the discussion (4)
- The anti-cross-joint host accepts that disinterest in marijuana may explain why the movie’s signature bonding scene feels slow.
- Missing Paper Planes from the film drives the trailer-better disappointment.
- Hiding, consulting Red, fleeing, and even hijacking the police car are defended as rational under the circumstances.
- Dale’s return for a dealer he barely knows is challenged, with the near-death friendship acceleration offered as defense.
The third Angie phone call and adjacent breakup stretch are the suggested break, provided the viewer returns before Dale recruits Red.
In the discussion (1)
- The third Angie phone call and adjacent breakup stretch are the suggested break, provided the viewer returns before Dale recruits Red.
The unnecessary high-school-girlfriend plot, Franco and Heard’s later controversies, racial naming of the rival dealers, and naive phone-tracking debate age worst.
In the discussion (3)
- Removing Angie would improve structure, though dinner with her parents and the volatile calls are defended.
- Referring to the rival organization only as “the Asians” is rejected.
- The characters wonder whether phones can be traced in an era before routine app location tracking.
No alternate beats Pineapple Express; the weather-term title was reportedly Goldberg’s first idea.
In the discussion (2)
- You’ve Been Served, Cross Joint, I Love You Bud, Bros Before Hoes, and High as a Kite are intentionally weak alternatives.
- Easy Job was the shipping title rather than a serious creative candidate.
“Thug Life” is the strongest meme legacy, with the cross joint, Pineapple Express strain, “dopest dope,” euthanasia, and “my car committed suicide” as alternatives.
In the discussion (2)
- The hosts distinguish Tupac’s prior use from this movie popularizing the phrase among white teenagers.
- The cross joint and named strain became real cultural objects beyond quoted dialogue.
Rosie Perez wins, with Craig Robinson and the aggressive middle-school dealer offered as alternatives whose excess is praised rather than criticized.
In the discussion (1)
- Rosie Perez wins, with Craig Robinson and the aggressive middle-school dealer offered as alternatives whose excess is praised rather than criticized.
Angie’s thin, reworked girlfriend plot wins, despite a defense of Heard’s phone performances.
In the discussion (1)
- Angie’s thin, reworked girlfriend plot wins, despite a defense of Heard’s phone performances.
Gary Cole wins under a broader audience standard; Joe Lo Truglio and Kevin Corrigan receive individual votes.
In the discussion (1)
- The hosts explicitly object that regular Rewatchables panelists know so many character actors that they deny ordinary viewers’ That Guy experience.
Ed Begley Jr. wins over Hader, the high-school jock, and the child dealer for his meal deadline, gunfire, threats, and accurate suspicion of Dale.
In the discussion (2)
- The jock’s Goldblum-impression praise and “suck today’s dick” exit are a major alternate.
- Begley’s father threatens to take the intruders into the street and have sex with them, then immediately fetches and fires a gun.
The panel boycotts a 2022 recast for lack of obvious young comic actors, then proposes Skyler Gisondo, Tim Robinson, and Sam Richardson.
In the discussion (1)
- The panel boycotts a 2022 recast for lack of obvious young comic actors, then proposes Skyler Gisondo, Tim Robinson, and Sam Richardson.
Research covers the meteorological name, real civil engineers, locations, 180 uses of “fuck,” cross joints, cable overdubbing, the smoking billboard, Snicklefritz, injuries, and overlapping Superbad work.
In the discussion (6)
- Weathercasters coined Pineapple Express for an atmospheric river carrying tropical moisture in the late 1960s.
- Saul’s named civil engineers and projects are real.
- The hosts count 180 uses of “fuck.”
- “Melon farmers” deliberately imitates cable overdubbing of profanity.
- A smoking billboard triggered fire reports, and Snicklefritz came from a supervisor’s insult for a struggling PA.
- Rogen broke a finger, and Superbad drawings were created during overlapping woods production.
The movie is not the people’s apex, but it has cases for Uggs in 2008, weed itself, comic gun-cocking montages, and the Daewoo Lanos.
In the discussion (3)
- Franco’s Golden Globe nomination does not outweigh later Oscar attention; McBride’s Eastbound & Down and Cole’s other roles are stronger peaks.
- The named strain, plot McGuffin, and extensive smoking make a strong case for weed’s movie apex.
- Ford reportedly refused a murder-by-Fiesta, producing the more memorable Lanos line.
The panel finds no plaque winner; its ensemble balance is the point.
In the discussion (1)
- The panel finds no plaque winner; its ensemble balance is the point.
Snicklefritz, Bong Mitzvah, Pineapple Express, I’m Done with the Woods, Mr. Wiggles, Not a Compliment, and Big Sexy remain unranked choices.
In the discussion (1)
- Snicklefritz, Bong Mitzvah, Pineapple Express, I’m Done with the Woods, Mr. Wiggles, Not a Compliment, and Big Sexy remain unranked choices.
“You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos, motherfucker” is the leading quote among an unusually deep field.
In the discussion (1)
- “Crazy about murdering people,” “I could talk about euthanasia all day,” “because I’m in the dumpster already,” the jaw-pulling memory, phone smashing, and the cop-driving warning are preserved alternatives.
Dale meeting Angie, insufficiently red eyes, the family fleeing home, process-server anger, easy police escape, exposed farm ventilation, unmentioned cannabis fire, and beer with milk generate the nits.
In the discussion (7)
- The film never explains how an aimless process server meets a high-school student.
- The actors behave high but rarely look physically high despite constant smoking.
- Angie’s family would call police rather than obey Dale and hide in a motel.
- The hosts debate whether recipients would actually insult the process server rather than the litigant.
- A smashed cop car should bring backup and helicopters before the heroes escape.
- Huge air intakes reveal the farm, and the finale omits any payoff from burning the world’s best weed.
- Angie’s father drinks Newcastle and milk together.
This Is the End already contains Pineapple Express 2: Blood Red; further options include a Red spinoff or prestige Ted Jones rise-to-power series.
In the discussion (2)
- The mock sequel sends Dale and Saul to assassinate Woody Harrelson to stop legalization from destroying Red’s business.
- A Ted and Rosie Perez prequel could explore their chemistry, Red’s recruitment, and the drug organization.
Questions examine a possible Dumb and Dumber homage, whether Pineapple Express is sativa, and how good the real strain is.
In the discussion (2)
- Two idiots pursued by two hitmen, an overestimating boss, disguises, and the shared Bubby actress form a substantial but unconfirmed homage case.
- The panel assumes sativa and invites firsthand reports on the strain.
Danny Trejo fits perfectly as Ted’s rival or partner; Kathryn Hahn and Samuel L. Jackson also receive support.
In the discussion (1)
- Danny Trejo fits perfectly as Ted’s rival or partner; Kathryn Hahn and Samuel L. Jackson also receive support.
Danny McBride gets the one Oscar for supporting actor, with Franco as the only hesitation.
In the discussion (1)
- Danny McBride gets the one Oscar for supporting actor, with Franco as the only hesitation.
This Is the End, Tropic Thunder, and Reefer Madness are distinct choices.
In the discussion (1)
- This Is the End, Tropic Thunder, and Reefer Madness are distinct choices.
The heroes are arrested for the cop car, Red dies in transit, or Red and Bubby die together; his closing bodily-warning line remains the comic button.
In the discussion (1)
- The heroes are arrested for the cop car, Red dies in transit, or Red and Bubby die together; his closing bodily-warning line remains the comic button.
Do not let your drug dealer upsell you; the claim that bongs filter addiction is exposed as false within Saul’s own joint-heavy behavior.
In the discussion (1)
- Do not let your drug dealer upsell you; the claim that bongs filter addiction is exposed as false within Saul’s own joint-heavy behavior.
A preserved cross joint wins over the prostitute pistol and Red’s kimono.
In the discussion (1)
- A preserved cross joint wins over the prostitute pistol and Red’s kimono.
Danny McBride wins both audible choices for a breakthrough that leads toward Kenny Powers; Rogen’s future cannabis-business legacy is the alternative case.
In the discussion (2)
- One speaker chooses McBride and another audibly agrees; the third speaker names two possible answers without casting a final candidate ballot.
- Rogen may eventually be remembered by later generations as a cannabis entrepreneur more than as an actor, strengthening but not winning his case.
Podcast choices
- Speaker not identified
- Danny McBride
- Speaker not identified
- Danny McBride
Casting What-Ifs
Most Rewatchable Scene
What’s Aged the Best?
The Slow Ride / Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness Award for Best Needle Drop
The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot
The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award
What’s Aged the Worst?
Is There a Better Title for This Movie?
The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award
The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film
The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award
The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance
Apex Mountain
Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake
Is This Movie Better With…?
Just One Oscar
The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson
What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?
Who Won the Movie?