Review of Half Baked (1998) by Jesse O — 24 Nov 2015

I think when you look up the definition of a dumb movie, this is the first film that would come up. And I don't even mean that in a derisive manner, but it's a film that features not particularly smart or bright characters acting being put in silly situations.

But it's dumb by design, the film absolutely has no pretensions or delusions of greatness. I don't think this film ever pretended to be the second coming of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Life of Brian (also a Python film).

I think once people come to terms with that then they'll have an easier time enjoying this. Honestly, I can't believe I waited so long to watch this movie. Not that I thought it was great or anything, but there's so many times I've seen this playing on TV and I never once really sat down and just watched it.

Though, to be fair, I'm sure this movie would be shown in heavily edited form and I don't think that's any way to watch a film. But I was also well aware of the film's cult following and yet I was never inclined to sit down and watch it, until last night of course.

And, as the score would imply, I definitely had a good time watching this. I'm not even a person who smokes weed, though I could see myself trying it, so I can imagine that I'd probably enjoy it more if I was high while watching it.

Then again, you can say that about a lot of films, but this seems like the only one where it seems like a requirement. Still, I found a lot to like about this movie. It's very intentionally goofy and the film benefits from that, because it isn't afraid to just throw whatever out there to see what sticks and what doesn't.

Because of that, however, that means that the film isn't really as consistent as it could have been. That's probably the only thing that holds the film back, honestly. It's clearly not a film that is high art, but it's a film that definitely has its place in the stoner comedy lexicon.

The film has some memorable characters, like Sir Smoke-a-lot, who only, sadly, appears in a couple of scenes. The cast is solid, they play their roles well, particularly Jim Breuer, but this guy always looks high as fuck, so I don't know how much of his acting was his character and how it was written or how he regularly is.

There's a couple of cameos by very famous weed smokers like Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg, so I thought those were fun, and, of course, Tommy Chong, though he plays a more 'important' character to the narrative, as he's the one that keeps Kenny from getting sodomized in jail.

And you can't have a movie about weed without Tommy Chong. I digress, long story short, this movie is a fun time. I realize that film criticism means looking at every movie as if they're on the same level, but you can't go into this movie if your favorite movie is Satantango.

You will hate this profusely. But I thought it was a good time for while it lasted and I'd recommend it as a Netflix watch or if you can get the DVD for like $5. Fun stuff.