Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express is the stoner action comedy — the genre's definitive entry. Seth Rogen and James Franco play a process server and his drug dealer who witness a murder and spend the rest of the film being chased by increasingly dangerous criminals through a haze of marijuana smoke. The genius is that the film does not parody action movies — it actually IS one, with real car chases, real fight choreography, and real stakes, all performed by two men who are way too high to handle any of it.

James Franco's Saul Silver is one of the great comedy performances of the 2000s — a sweet, lonely drug dealer who just wants a friend and finds one in the worst possible circumstances. Franco's commitment to the role earned him a Golden Globe nomination and proved he could do comedy at the highest level. Danny McBride's Red — a mid-level dealer who refuses to stay dead no matter how badly he is beaten — is a force of nature.

The fight in Red's apartment — a three-way brawl involving a Daewoo Lanos, a bong, and a dust buster — is the funniest action sequence of the decade. David Gordon Green, previously known for arthouse films like George Washington, brought a visual seriousness to the action that makes the comedy funnier by contrast. Pineapple Express proved that stoner comedy could have real production value and real action choreography.