High School: Film Review
I’m happy to report that High School, the latest in the seemingly endless string of Hollywood stoner comedies set in the late teens of American maledom, is not just another stoner comedy. It actually has a plot and a point (or two) to all its pro-Marijuana jokes and plotlines. It’s kind of like Dazed and Confused meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, all presented with a tidy bow and gift card that reads: “Sometimes, drugs are good.”
Let’s be frank: it’s kinda shocking to see Adrien Brody in a comedy, much less a stoner comedy where’s he’s all tatooed and shirtless. I’m still not sure that I liked him in the film, though he played his part convincingly and without sticking out (too much). He may just be too good an actor to appear in B-grade stoner films, but we may take solace in the fact that he plays the most serious part in the film (a drug dealer named Psycho Ed).
The movie tells the story of an uber smart and soon-to-be valedictorian named Henry (played by Matt Bush) who indulges his predilections for recreational drug use for the first time. Of course, the following day, his school’s principal mandates that all students be tested for traces of ‘the drug’ in their system. Henry, being a smarty pants, has a college scholarship lined up which will surely be in jeopardy if any drugs are found in his system. So what does he do? Why, enlist the help of a stoner buddy named Breaux (Sean Marquette) to help him con the system. It’s all about beating The Man, bro. And dude. Dude Bro.
What’s their plan? To hold a bake sale at the school and to pilfer the entire student body with laced brownies so that everyone is stoned. Yeah, it sounds kinda trite (and to be fair, it is) but you’ll be surprised at how funny it can get. Michael Chiklis, playing the school’s principal, is especially hilarious in his turn as an austere authoritarian who refuses to budge - which, in a high school stoner movie, can mean only one thing: reefer madness!
Photo Credit: Splash News Online
