While I knew it couldn’t be possibly as good/funny/weird as that amazing theatrical trailer featuring M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” I still couldn’t help but feel that Pineapple Express was a bit of a letdown. Too long by about 20 minutes (natch—it’s a Judd Apatow production), it never quite manages to transcend its jokey merging of blissed-out stoner antics with an affectionate parody of ’80s buddy action movies. The movie would have been out-and-out disheartening were it not for James Franco’s grungy pathos and art-film wunderkind David Gordon Green managing to inject just enough sublime weirdness and beauty to keep it from being a genuine sell-out. (Hollywood Jewel 16, Waco, TX)