SMOKE SCREENS
With cannabis legalization imminent in Canada, this year’s 4/20 — the annual celebration of stoner culture — represents the perfect time to examine a particular strain of comedic sub-genre. A category that encourages participation and demands leniency, the stoner movie adheres to a simple formula frequented by coming-of-age tales and clumsy quests. In honour of 4/20, as well as Friday’s timely release of the sequel to pot-friendly Super Troopers, Michael Chandler endeavours a ponderous journey through a ranking of stoner movies. 20 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006)
Fresh out the clink after an ATM heist expectedly gone wrong, Ricky, Julian and Bubbles rehash various moments from the episodic cult Canadian classic. It lacks the six-paper joints and pastoral charms of the TV version.
19 Reefer Madness (1936)
Kids, don’t smoke weed or else you’ll become a murderous, crazed lunatic. That’s the message of this melodramatic propaganda-cum-unintentional satire meant to keep kids out of their parents’ stash.
18 Bio-Dome (1996)
This gem has a five per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, and that may be generous. Pauly Shore was a thing at one time, and thankfully that time has been forgotten.
17 Kids (1995)
Larry Clark’s debut is raw, unfiltered and at times frightening, profiling a band of New York City teens who when left to their own devices amount to a rather undesirable lot.
16 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
A journey, both for the two grating leads and the viewer, adroit psychedelic courier Terry Gilliam somehow does Hunter S. Thompson’s words a disservice.
15 Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)
A pair of blazed buddies, check. Red eyes and absent thoughts, check. The pursuit of a simple goal made inexplicably difficult, check.
14 Billy Madison (1995)
Before overgrown rich kids held office, they valued leisure, marvelled at peculiar apparitions, hit on women they shouldn’t have and spouted infantile drivel. Sometimes art really does imitate life.
13 Pineapple Express (2008)
Vancouver-born chortler Seth Rogen teams with James Franco’s aloof drug dealer as David Gordon Green takes the conventional stoner flick and makes it violent. Rogen and Evan Goldberg ’s script is the centrepiece.
12 Friday (1995)
South Central is the backdrop for this front-porch buddy flick with Ice Cube’s Craig the no-nonsense accompaniment to Chris Tucker’s shrill showboat weed dealer Smokey. Parents, if you want your son to be sell dope, naming him Smokey is a decent start.
11 Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Nostalgia overload as Jeff Spicoli and Co. mimic So-Cal high school students on the brink of adult impasse. Phoebe Cates, if you’re reading this — hello.
10 This Is the End (2013)
Self-indulgent yet silly, Rogen and Co. play themselves at a party as the world burns. Drugs are done, friendships are tested and Rihanna falls into a gaping hole in the Earth. It’s a tale as old as time.
9 The Wackness (2008)
Likable characters buoy this depiction of mid-’90s New York, with Ben Kingsley playing a shrink who trades weed for therapy with Josh Peck’s reticent hip-hop-tinted teen. Parents quarrel, virginity is lost and joints are smoked.
8 Up in Smoke (1978)
The archetype of the oeuvre comprising the two pillars of stoner movies: a buddy flick with a simple goal completed in the most roundabout way imaginable. Cheech & Chong ’s first cinematic offering — which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year — is the benchmark.
7 Dazed and Confused (1993)
Persistent themes abound: High school, 1970s bush weed, confronting adult problems and ensemble casts, with the added bonus of Matthew McConaughey as toe-the-line creep Wooderson.
6 Knocked Up (2007)
Rogen plays a gregarious bong savant whose one-night fling with Katherine Heigl’s mid-20s professional establishes an unlikely odd couple, giving hope to stoners everywhere.
5 Clerks (1994)
Jumbo jorts ambassador Kevin Smith’s low-budget black-andwhite breakthrough is an earnest day in the life of cynical slackers, dead-end jobs and rooftop roller hockey.
4 Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
The devil’s grass lurks off camera as buzzed bozos Ted Theodore Logan and Bill S. Preston Esq. go back in time to complete a high school assignment. Kids today with their search engines have it so easy.
3 Half Baked (1998)
Toronto landmarks are aplenty in this superbly stupid and almost entirely harmless comedy co-written and starring Dave Chappelle.
2 Easy Rider (1969)
What’s cooler than riding choppers with your buddy from L.A. to New Orleans bankrolled by the proceeds of a cocaine deal? Nothing. Legends Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were the essence of drug-fuelled antiestablishment chic.
1 The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Coen brothers-crafted cult classic separates itself from its peers courtesy of an inventive script and performances from John Goodman and Jeff Bridges.
The list abides.