Half-Baked. Happy Gilmore. Billy Madison. Grandma’s Boy. Dude, Where’s My Car? Where have the movies like this gone? Clerks 3 was, I think, the last good one I’ve ever seen (and even they got too real and too sad so I don’t even know if I ever want to see it again as a comedy). There’s gotta be some good, funny shit that’s even funnier when stoned out of your mind that’s more recent than that, right?
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Två main reasons:
- Medium budget films are not economically viable anymore. 30-75 million dollar films where these comedies would fall are too risky and don’t pay off.
- Comedies have been made into comicbook-movies. I hate it.
Your first point is definitely a big trend. Studios either target a niche audience (like horror or art house maybe), which don’t have the size to support larger budgets. Or they go after the larger more casual crowd, but then they compete against the blockbusters. Not only on the production budget side, but importantly also in marketing.
I guess the question is if these kinds of comedies could somehow be done on a lower budget.
Hollywood budgets have ballooned and killed mid-budget pictures. Typically these would be genre pieces like comedy or horror movies. I think horror could be in a similar shape to comedy if it weren’t for A24 producing a lot of mid budget films.
Big budget action/comic book movies are still seen like a better investment because audiences have only just started losing interest from a very high peak.
Here’s a sleeper hit:
Strange Wilderness
Get high as a kite and check it out. Check back in with me later and tell me you didn’t giggle your tits off.
“I p-p-painted eyeballs on my eye lids so p-p-people would think I’m awake when I’m asleep.”
That guy cracks me up. His intonation and delivery is perfect.
Though I’m pretty sure he says he tattooed them on his eyelids, which begs the question of where they went after the scene.
“The oil looks a little thick, maybe I should add some water to it” became a go-to for me.
They’re just not that funny
Probably just need some screenwriter to come up with a good idea, shop it around to a bunch of studios who all say “no” then go to their staff writers to write up a knock off that won’t get them sued. (“What if there’s a stoner who starts out good for nothing but has a redemption arc? That’s genius!!”)
So then instead of the originally written good version you get 5 campy hack versions that all get cranked out in 6 to 12 months. If the screenwriter can pull it off she’ll develop hers independently and get it out in 18 months but be accused of being unoriginal.
If you ever notice a bunch of similar movies coming out within 6 months of each other, this is pretty much why that happens.
That’s a good point. I really need to start seeing who wrote things more than looking at directors and studios. Maybe the funny writers are working on stuff that looks serious, but is actually filled with jokes.
Don’t forget How High.
I really enjoyed Bottoms, could give that a shot.
I’ve been eyeballing that one. One endorsement is good enough for me!
They go in phases. Really the peak was the Cheech and Chong era, then they vanished for 20 years, came back for Harold and Kumar, Clerks, etc.
Comedy has taken itself too seriously in recent years. Having a goofy premise or an outrageous hero was normal. They need something to sell and taking the risk is not in the cards for most producers.
Maybe you can get Kevin Smith to open a production company for comedians.
Big Lebowski is a stoner movie, just not a shitty one
They still make them, it’s just that they aren’t super mainstream anymore and most people who grew up with them grew out of that type of humour, and the nostalgia is what’s hitting them for those movies.
Seth Rogen still makes them, the guys from workaholics made one not too long ago, there’s some other good fringe ones I’ve seen.
Cocaine Bear, Strays, Bad Trip, Barbie, Everything Everywhere all at Once, Marcel the Shell with shoes on, Cats, Inherent Vice, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show, NHDTA-613: "If you don’t hurry up, you’ll have a baby!”, Event Horizon, The Lego Movie
The Exorcist. Satanstango. Blue Velvet. 2001 A Space Odyssey
Eraserhead. El Topo. The Holy Mountain. Willy’s Wonderland. Angel’s Egg. Skinamarink.
Edit: imagine watching something like Skinamarink stoned out of your mind. Holy fuck.
Cocaine Bear is possibly the only one on here that fits the “stoner” moniker. But I had forgotten about it and haven’t seen it yet.
Everything is a stoner comedy if you’re stoned enough according to this guy
It was shit. Somehow they basically tried to make it a drama. It was unbelievably stupid, and not because of the premise, which is saying something.
Somehow they basically tried to make it a drama.
I don’t think we watched the same movie.
Right‽
The movie was unbelievably dumb and personally I loved it! Dunno what that guy wanted/expected out of the movie, but I feel like it delivered on what the title promised me
Cocaine Bear had less emotional drama than This is the End, and that was a literal stoner drama!
Yes, highest rated narrative film on Letterboxd = shit. Perhaps you’re the person who might be out of sync
If Cocaine Bear is the highest rated anything, I’m happy to part with society.
“Possibly” well, literally every movie possibly fits the moniker. All suggestions are objectively solid stoner movies.
Adding: Mandy
Sure, throw Skinamarink on there too. I hear that’s a wonderful movie to watch while high.
