Half Baked (1998) Universal/Comedy RT: 82 minutes Rated R (pervasive drug content, language, nudity, sexual material) Director: Tamra Davis Screenplay: Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan Music: Alf Clausen Cinematography: Steven Bernstein Release date: January 16, 1998 (US) Cast: Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, Guillermo Diaz, Rachel True, Clarence Williams III, Laura Silverman, Tommy Chong, Steven Wright, Tracy Morgan, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Jon Stewart, Stephen Baldwin, Willie Nelson, Bob Saget, Janeane Garofalo. Box Office: $17.5M (US)
Rating: ***
When it comes to pot comedies, give me Cheech & Chong any day of the week and twice on Sunday. My dad (and everyone else’s I’m sure) called them “creeps”. I called them hilarious and still do. They were the funniest stoners on the planet. I loved their albums and their movies, even Still Smokin’. I mention C&C because Tommy Chong has a supporting role in Half Baked, a good-natured comedy about stoners trying to raise bail money for their imprisoned friend. High in laughs and low on intelligence, it doesn’t take getting high to a new high or low. It’s just content to be.
The plot, such as it is, centers on four lifelong friends- Thurgood (Chappelle, Robin Hood: Men in Tights), Brian (Breuer, SNL), Kenny (Williams, RocketMan) and Scarface (Diaz, High School High)- who discover marijuana as boys and stick with it into adulthood. The trouble begins when Kenny feeds a whole bunch of junk food to a diabetic police horse and kills it. He’s arrested and held on $1 million bail. Since his friends don’t have that kind of money lying around, they do the next best thing. They start selling weed Thurgood steals from the medical laboratory where he works as a custodian. Calling their outfit “Mr. Nice Guy”, they become an overnight success. Of course, complications arise.
Complication #1: Thurgood falls for a girl named Mary Jane (True, The Craft) who’s vehemently anti-drug. He promises her that he doesn’t smoke or sell weed because she wouldn’t stay with him if she knew the truth. This means a whole lot of lying.
Complication #2: They have only a short time to raise 10% of a million ($100,000) before Kenny’s protector (Chong) is released from prison leaving him at the mercy of his fellow inmates who want to…. well, I think you can guess what.
Complication #3: Their new enterprise cuts right into the business of local drug lord Samson Simpson (Williams, The Mod Squad) who demands a hefty weekly cut of their earnings.
Usually, I write long in-depth reviews, but I don’t think that’s necessary for Half Baked. It is what it is. It’s a comedy about potheads smoking pot and getting into trouble with half-baked schemes. It’s fitfully funny. Sometimes it tries a little too hard; it’s forceful when it should be easygoing. The main cast is a decent one. Chappelle and Diaz are funny; Breuer and Williams tend to be annoying. It has a bevy of cool cameos by the likes of rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, talk show host John Stewart, country singer Willie Nelson and Full House star Bob Saget (as a coke head). Steven Wright has the funniest moments as the “Guy on the Couch”. It has dumb cops and a band of female henchmen with swords.
I don’t even know what else I can tell you about Half Baked. It knows its audience and its audience knows it. It’s far from perfect, but for some reason I don’t think the intended audience will mind or even notice. If they’re doing what I think they’re doing, they’re going to laugh like crazy at this silly, half-brained movie no matter what.
