Perhaps I’m not the right person to review a “stoner” movie — that is, a movie about people getting stoned on marijuana and the adventures that ensue. However, I have seen a few — the best was “The Tao of Steve.”

“Pineapple Express” is not one of the better ones. The misadventures of Dale Denton (Seth Rogen, who also co-wrote the screenplay) and his pot dealer Saul (James Franco) has some funny moments, but the story drags, the pacing is too slow and the funniest moments feel like set pieces.

This is not to impeach the acting talents of Franco and Rogen, who both do an admirable job — particularly Franco.

It is through Franco’s Saul that one of the movies themes becomes apparent: friendship. Though Saul sells marijuana for a living, he is a sweethearted guy who, for some unknown reason, just wants to be friends with Dale. Franco’s willingness to totally embody this is one of the better things about the movie. And Franco must be given credit for being able to say cringeingly sappy lines with utter sincerity.

Rogen’s Dale is a bit less sympathetic a character than Saul, but still mostly likable. He’s really not interested in being friends with his drug dealer, yet it is to his drug dealer that he turns after witnessing a policewoman commit murder.

Both men go on the run as it turns out that they have stumbled into the midst of a war between two drug lords. Along the way, they learn the value of friendship and loyalty.

As Dale, Rogen is both a carefree pothead and the closest thing the film has to a voice of reason, that is when he can refrain from smoking long enough. As such, Rogen does well.

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The movie has its funny moments, unfortunately, most of them seem like set pieces. What I mean is, it seems as if the funniest scenes could have filmed alone and put on YouTube where they would fit right in, soon becoming viral videos. It was almost as if Rogen and fellow screenwriter Evan Goldberg thought up the funny scenes and then built a film around those moments.

For a comedy, the movie was surprisingly boring. Many scenes seemed to drag on, including some scenes that started out funny. And then there are scenes, especially a montage in the woods, that seem totally unnecessary, as if they were just filler.

Add to that poor pacing, and the film really seems dull. For instance, when one character, Red (Danny R. McBride), starts talking about karma, the filmmakers let him go on too long, disrupting the pacing at a moment when the film’s action would seem to warrant a sense of urgency.

And even the side characters were uninteresting. The main bad guy, Ted Jones (Gary Cole), didn’t seem very tough or scary. His minions were more annoying than funny or frightening.

Friendship and loyalty are admirable themes for a movie. And I am all for anyone trying to break the cultural tradition that makes men feel they have to be super macho around each other for fear they might seem gay. Why shouldn’t men be able to truly care about other men as friends and be able to express that?

With that said, I’d cringe and roll my eyes to see women, even teenage girls, say some of the things that these men say to each other. The dialogue in these moments of “tenderness” is that sappy. But maybe you have to go to these extremes to make the point that it is ridiculous that men can’t usually express their feelings.

Near the end of the film, as the two drug lords (and their minions) clash, violence ensues. This is another area where the film seems to go a bit off track. As a comedy, one expects any violence to be dealt with in a comedic fashion — at least by the comedic leads.

But in “Pineapple Express” when the violence arrives, the comedy leaves. It is a strange turn toward the serious that throws the humorous vibe off track for a while.

As I said at the beginning, I may not be the right person to review a movie about pot smokers — perhaps the humor is just lost on me. But from this vantage point, what little humor there was, wasn’t enough to redeem an overall boring and sappy film.

Amanda Brooks can be reached at 737-1057 or abrooks@lompocrecord.com.

(1 star out of 4.)