I'm going to begin with 1998's Half-Baked. All of you that have seen Chappelle's Show or have watched or heard any of Dave's stand up know that he kills. He anchors the cast of Half-Baked as Thurgood, partnering up with Jim Breuer as Brian, (the white-guy-piece of the multicultural trifecta) and Scarface, the stereotypical urban Hispanic played by Guillermo Diaz. The three of them set out determined to free their incarcerated friend Kenny, played by Harlon Williams, after he unintentionally kills a cop's diabetic horse by feeding it junk food.
Thurgood, a part-time janitor, and his perpetually stoned buddies are on a mission to scrape up enough money to bail Kenny out of jail in an effort to preserve his innocence and masculinity before he is "corrupted" by his six-foot-plus musclebound cellmate. Among his usual maintenance work Thurgood discovers that the facility he works in has a government run lab dedicated to the research of marijuana. So, by using stolen requisition forms he and his cohorts go about attaining bricks upon bricks of weed and selling it all over New York.
This movie is packed full of great characters and great dialogue. In the movie we meet the likes of the MacGyver Smoker, who is the handiest guy to have around when dealing with all things reefer related. "Hey man, we're out of rolling papers."
Upon first glance, or even first viewing, this movie may not seem to amount to much but the second time I watched it and really listened to the dialogue being exchanged I laughed uncontrollably. James Franco is awesome, Danny McBride contributes plenty of great comedy from the side and the movie delivers some great one-liners and a funny and heartfelt "bromance". If movies of this genre were considered for awards, James Franco would have gotten Best Supporting Actor, if for nothing more than him driving around a stolen cop car with his leg stuck through the windshield.
"Alright then give me a toilet paper roll, a corkscrew and some tinfoil."
"But, we don't have a corkscrew..."
"Okay, then get me an avocado, an ice pick and my snorkel. Trust me bro, I've made bongs with less. now, hurry up!"
Characters like the MacGyver Smoker, the Enhancement Smoker the I'm Only Creative When I Smoke Smoker and the Historian Smoker are just a few of the funny interjections we get from outside of the comical trio of misfits.
Is it silly? Yes. Is it lacking any real-life believability? Duh! Its made by a pack of stoners FOR stoners. But its more than just mildly amusing to those of us who aren't high - Its hilarious!
So, if you have a free rental coupon, and you're out and about, treat yourself to this movie, and while you're at it "Get some sour cream and onion chips with some dip, man. Some beef jerky, some peanut butter. Get some Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars, a whole lot, make sure chocolate, gotta have chocolate, man. Some popcorn, red popcorn, graham crackers, graham crackers with marshmallows, the little marshmallows and little chocolate bars and make s'mores man. Also, celery, grape jelly, Cap'n Crunch with the little Crunch berries. Pizzas. Two big pizzas, man. Everything on 'em, with water, a whole lotta water. And Funyons."
Friday. Starring Ice Cube as Craig, and Chris Tucker as Smokey. This movie might best illustrate the type of neighborhood my brothers and sisters and I grew up in. Friday is a cultural icon where I lived so much so that my classmates and I actually watched this movie in school when I was in Junior High. As the title suggests, the story takes place in one day as it follows Craig and Smokey through their activities, encounters, and predicaments.
The chemistry alone between Craig's laid back nature and Smokey's hyper-active and loud-mouthed demeanor are reason enough to watch this movie. Early on that Friday morning Smokey approaches Craig with "Why you not goin' to work?"
"Umm... heat-seeking missiles... bloodhounds... and foxes... barracudas..."
"Not a compliment."Its the story that's as old as time itself. The one guy gets fired from his job and inevitably gets caught up in the mess of his best friend, who is a drug dealer that ends up owing his supplier $200 bucks for the weed that he smoked instead of sold. We've all been there. Okay so the movies doesn't have much by way of storyline. Its mostly two guys just hanging out. But, the hyjinx ensues as these two go about their day avoiding the neighborhood bully, working through their own relationship troubles, and observing the day to day life of many other amusing characters on their block. Some consider it a ruder, cruder version of House Party, and there is no doubt that it can be classified as a hip-hop, ghetto comedy. But although it was obviously and unapologetically created for a specific demographic, the years have shown that it is well respected among people from a surprisingly large variety of backgrounds.
The chemistry alone between Craig's laid back nature and Smokey's hyper-active and loud-mouthed demeanor are reason enough to watch this movie. Early on that Friday morning Smokey approaches Craig with "Why you not goin' to work?"
To which Craig replies matter-of-factly "I got fired yesterday."
"No kidding? I thought you had the day off yesterday."
"I did. I went in to pick up my check, came home, my supervisor called me about four o'clock, told me they got me on tape stealing boxes."
"What you stealing boxes for? What you tryin' to build, a clubhouse?" (Conversation edited for language)
Because of conversations like this and many others is why I have Smokey as one of my all-time favorite movie potheads.
My favorite stoner movie though is Pineapple Express from 2008. I have seen Friday more times than I can count and have half of the dialogue committed to memory, but Pineapple Express has not only my #1 movie burnout, but perhaps one of my favorite movie characters of all time. I have only seen Pineapple maybe 3 times, and the story isn't exactly a masterpiece, but James Franco's Saul Silver is played to absolute perfection.
The movie actually centers around Dale, played by the world-famous pothead Seth Rogen (playing what I can only imagine will be the easiest role of his career) as a court-process clerk who spends the better part of his existence smoking weed. Between visiting his high school aged girlfriend on campus and finishing his days work of serving people their court summons, he meets up with his dealer, Saul, who introduces him to a new "breed" of marijuana known as pineapple express. "Just sit back and get ready to enjoy some of the rarest weed known to mankind." Saul tells him.
"It's really that rare?"
"It's, like, the rarest. It's almost a shame to smoke it. It's like killing a unicorn. With... like, a bomb."
Dale continues on, after getting baked with Saul, to his last delivery of the day when he incidentally becomes the lone witness to a murder by a crooked cop and notorious druglord. In his panic to escape the scene, Dale drops his roach of his pineapple express and finds himself approaching Saul again, but this time to find out just how rare that strain of weed really is. As it turns out, it is extremely rare and can be easily traced back to Dale and Saul. They run for their lives in a weed-exaggerated state of fear and paranoia. "Even if he found that roach, how could he find us?" Dale asks as they hideout in the woods.
"Umm... heat-seeking missiles... bloodhounds... and foxes... barracudas..."
"I'm just - kind of flabbergasted when you say things like that. It's weird."
"Thank you."
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