Who doesn’t love a goofy stoner comedy, especially on 4/20? In preparation for the pothead’s worldwide national holiday, roll on up for a list of twelve red-eyed classics of the genre. Prepare to get very giggly, consider the implications of Garfield’s love of lasagne (Smiley Face), get a sudden inescapable urge to head to White Castle for 30 sliders (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle), and drive a truck entirely built from Mary Jane (Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke). Whether you're riding the Pineapple Express or you're Dazed and Confused, these are the movies for you.
Cheech and Chong’s Up In Smoke (1978)
-18.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1500&dpr=1.5)
Where else could we begin but with the Granddaddies of stoner humor. From the credits set to the funky sound of War’s "Lowrider", the film emanates cool vibes and a delightfully silly tone, as the amiable idiots toke on comically large joints and generally bumble through what little of a plot there is. As well as establishing the basic formula for stoner buddy-comedies, the film is very, very funny.
Friday (1995)
In the early 90s, there was a trend for films depicting South Central LA in an entirely negative light — all drugs and drive-bys. Writers Ice Cube and DJ Pooh and director F. Gary Gray wanted to make a movie that represented the positives they had experienced growing up in the area - humor, heart, community…and weed. They succeeded admirably, on a miniscule budget and tight schedule, and created a massive hit day-in-the-life classic in the process. Friday is teeming with hilarious turns from various comedy legends, although the funniest performance comes from the late, great John Witherspoon as Cube’s eccentric father. Packed with one-liners and a soundtrack of fantastic contemporary R&B and hip-hop, it made movie stars of Cube and Chris Tucker and paved the way for a franchise.
Pineapple Express (2008)
It’s possible that Seth Rogen is yet to make his magnum opus regarding his favorite subject, pot, but so far Pineapple Express is the closest he has got. He plays Dale, a weed-addled process server given a joint of “Pineapple Express”, a very rare strain, by his blissed-out dealer Saul, played by James Franco. Dale leaves the roach, fleeing the scene in a panic having witnessed a murder, and this leads the bad guys straight to Saul, whereupon a game of cat and mouse ensues. Part stoner-buddy comedy, part action movie, with some surprisingly violent scenes amongst the usual weed-based Rogen antics, there is plenty of fun to be had watching our two inept heroes try to negotiate the increasingly out-of-control scenario.
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Uptight Harold (John Cho) and party-guy Kumar (Kal Penn) get high and decide they want White Castle burgers and will settle for nothing less. That is the entire premise for this stoner road movie, and yet it is a lot of fun spending time with this lovable pair of fully-rounded characters/doofuses as they go from one gut-busting set-piece to the next. There are some pretty puerile toilet jokes along with some sexist humor, as is often the case when going back to the comedies of the early 2000s, but on a more positive note, it features two Asian American protagonists - how many Hollywood films can make that claim? For a stoner comedy the film actually has something to say about race and the Asian American experience. To top it off there are fun cameos aplenty, of which Neil Patrick Harris steals the show playing a warped, hyper-macho version of himself.
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Whilst pot doesn’t make that many on-screen appearances, more or less every character in Richard Linklater’s beautiful coming-of-age comedy looks like they have just taken a bong-hit prior to shooting; the film is drenched in a hazy 1970s aesthetic and feels like it reeks of pot. Featuring a young cast that includes Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConoughey amongst many others, it is an absolute blast to spend a day in the life of these characters as they haze one-another, smoke pot for the first time, get drunk, party, and listen to awesome 70s rock.
Half Baked (1998)
Dave Chapelle is on charismatic form in this slight 90s stoner comedy. Sporting a cast of brilliant comics including Steven Wright, Jeanette Garofalo, Harland Williams, John Stewart, not to mention Mary Jane poster-boys Tommy Chong and Snoop Dogg, the movie skirts around the line somewhere between funny-stupid and stupid-stupid. Even by the standards set by other movies in the genre, this is a knowingly silly endeavor rescued by Chapelle’s easy, breezy, 4th wall-breaking charm and such skits as the accidental death of a diabetic horse, characters smoking medical-grade marijuana that sends them flying through the streets of New York, and a very Chappelle’s Show secondary performance from the man himself as rapper Sir Smoke-a-Lot.
Reefer Madness (1936)
Perhaps the craziest film ever made about cannabis, Reefer Madness is an unhinged propaganda film from the 1930s designed to put kids off smoking the drug and inducing the dreaded “Reefer Madness”. Symptoms include maniacal laughter, dancing like Elaine Benes from Seinfeld, and of course the sudden urge to commit sexual assault, hit-and-runs, and murder. It’s hysterical in both senses of the word, and has gone on to develop a cult following due to the accidental high camp and general insanity of the production.
We're the Millers (2013)
Jason Sudekis plays a small-time dealer forced by his boss to smuggle a large quantity of chronic across the Mexican border. He enlists the help of a stripper, a catty thief, and his idiotic neighbor (Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts and Will Poulter respectively) to pose as a family - the titular Millers - and make the trip in an RV, thus looking less suspicious to the authorities. The laughs come from the personality clash of these four very different personalities, and from their ongoing uselessness at pulling off their ruse, as well as riotous cameos from Kathryn Hahn and Nick Offerman as a DEA officer and his wife, both totally oblivious to the obvious weed shenanigans under their noses. A modern comedy classic.
Scary Movie (2000)
There is an argument to be made for Scary Movie being redundant as a concept, since it sets out to satirize a film that was already a meta commentary on itself in the first place - Scream. However, the Wayans Brothers have enough gross-out gags, pop culture references, and crude humor to keep things ticking along entertainingly. Anna Faris is always a welcome addition to any comedy, but it is Marlon Wyans’ over-the-top performance as Shorty and his interactions with a stoned Ghostface that places this high in the echelons of 4/20 entertainment. It should be pointed out that the film does contain some homophobic gags that were uncomfortable at the time of release and certainly have not aged any better.
Saving Grace (2000)
The wonderful Brenda Blethyn is the unlikely star of this sweet British twist on the weed buddy comedy. She plays Grace, a widow who learns that her husband left their finances in ruins and house up for repossession. Grace has a green thumb and turns her talent to assist her gardener, played by co-writer Craig Ferguson (in an early role prior to his move to American television), in the growth of a cannabis farm in her greenhouse. It’s manages to somehow be both gentle and subversive and features a terrific supporting cast of comic actors and plenty of laughs. A welcome change of pace and tone.
Smiley Face (2007)
Anna Faris is perfectly cast in this unusual, often surprisingly original indie comedy as Jane F, a perma-stoned actress who eats her roommates cupcakes only to realize they were laced with pot. Tripping out of her mind on the edibles, she attempts to make it through the rest of her day including an acting audition, the accidental theft of an original copy of the Communist Manifesto, cooking her cell phone in weed butter, and all manner of other scrapes and misadventures. At times the movie feels like a feature-length adaptation of the bad Quaaludes scene from The Wolf of Wall Street, and those partaking in the bud on 4/20 should be aware that some depictions of pot-induced paranoia are a little too realistic and can get a tad stressful even when watching sober. Overall, though, this is an underrated gem of the genre and contains a stand-out internal monologue in which Jane considers framing a picture of a lasagne, or perhaps Garfield, or perhaps President Garfield, to subtly display her love of the cheesy comfort-food.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Big Lebowski is hands-down the best stoner comedy ever made, and one of the best comedies period. Only the Coen Brothers would follow up an Oscar-winning masterpiece like Fargo with an absurd comedy about a bowling stoner - an iconic performance from Jeff Bridges as The Dude - who accidentally stumbles into a Raymond Carver plot. The contrast with their last movie left critics and audiences baffled, but over the years it has developed a cult following and even spawned a religion based on the philosophy of The Dude. The script is teeming with quotable dialogue (“That rug really tied the room together.” “Careful man, there’s a beverage here!” “This aggression will not stand, man.” “Smokey, this is not ‘Nam, this is bowling. There are rules.”), and every supporting character is a joy, from John Turturro’s crazed appearance as a pederast bowler named Jesus to a career-best performance from John Goodman as the deranged pseudo-Jewish Vietnam-obsessed Walter. The soundtrack kicks ass, ranging from the laid-back, scuzzy garage rock of Monks to the Kenny Rogers and the First Edition version of the psychedelic classic “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” underscoring one of the most memorable dream sequences ever put together. A film that only gets better with every viewing, it’s the ultimate flick for sitting back, taking a sip on a White Russian, and enjoying a good long toke and the occasional acid flashback. And if you don’t agree, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.