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How High (2001)
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Synopsis: HOW HIGH is a raucous comedy about two underachieving potheads from the projects, Cyrus and Jamal (rappers Method Man and Redman), who, through bizarre circumstances, end up attending Harvard University. It all begins when Cyrus' friend Ivory dies, and Cyrus uses his ashes as fertilizer to... HOW HIGH is a raucous comedy about two underachieving potheads from the projects, Cyrus and Jamal (rappers Method Man and Redman), who, through bizarre circumstances, end up attending Harvard University. It all begins when Cyrus' friend Ivory dies, and Cyrus uses his ashes as fertilizer to grow marijuana. When the two are taking their college entrance exams, Jamal explains his philosophy: Study high. Take the test high. Get high scores. Smoking Cyrus' magical weed somehow summons the ghost of the brainy Ivory, who gives them all the answers to the exam. They are recruited by Chancellor Huntley (Fred Willard) to attend Harvard, where they use the weed to continue their academic success, but thanks to the machinations of the uptight Dean Cain (Obba Babatunde), they soon find themselves without Ivory's help, and are forced to maintain their scholarship grades on their own. The plot reaches its peak of comic ludicrousness when the hapless duo attempts to dig up and smoke the remains of John Quincy Adams. HOW HIGH features Mike Epps, Tracy Morgan, and Spalding Gray in supporting roles. The film is scabrously funny and refreshingly free of logic, reason, and political correctness. [More]
Genre: Comedies
Starring: Method Man, Redman, Obba Babatunde, Mike Epps, Anna Maria Horsford
Screenwriter: Dustin Lee Abraham, Brad Kaaya
Producer: Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, James Ellis
Reviews
The jokes aren't funny, the characters aren't fully developed and poor editing only makes a humorless story confusing.
Sinfully tasteless cinema was everywhere in 2001 - but this movie is so bad it's Freudian.
As it stands, a movie like How High does nothing more than perpetuate the belief that marijuana is enjoyed solely by idiots.
Not all the gags work, not all the gross-outs serve the greater good, but How High is funny, quick, and the very definition of a pleasant surprise.
This is one clumsy cannabis comedy that couldn't give the late Timothy Leary a natural high worth experiencing! Nip this "joint" session in the bud!
For better or for worse, How High knows what its audience wants and serves it to them, straight up, without any sort of moral or ethical chaser.
Despite the comedy's reliance on drug humor, first-time director Jesse Dylan is actually less interested in getting high than in seeing how low he can go.
Feebly crafted in virtually every way imaginable -- directing, cinematography, acting, scriptwriting.
Maintains a consistent level of a swaggering, semi-anarchic silliness reminiscent of '70s youth-skewing comedies.
The proceedings aren't quite as annoying as expected, but it has been sloppily made, and feels about twice as long as its 91 minutes.
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by: rockyrules 8/8/03


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