Getting toasty stoned and streaming a flick is a marriage that was made in Hollywood heaven ages ago. The ritual of sparking a joint and watching a movie can be cathartic and watching stoned people navigate the world high on THC is equally as entertaining on the silver screen as it can be in real life. With that, we’ve pulled our nine favorite stoner movies from the archives in which marijuana is the muse.
Pineapple Express (2008)
When the star of this film is a government-classified strain of weed, you know you’re in for some good shit. In this genre-crossing comedy, Seth Rogen and James Franco star as two stoners who, high on a rare batch of bud, witness a murder and are then chased by bad guys. Described on Rotten Tomatoes as an “action/buddy/stoner” movie, the absurdity of the plot is good for a cheap high.
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Friday (1995)
It’s a neighborhood tale of two knuckleheads who nearly get themselves killed for smoking over $200 worth of weed, consigned to them by a pusher named Big Perm, I mean Big Worm. There’s nothing half-baked about trooping around town searching for marijuana or the money to buy some. Such “random missions” are a big part of the stoner lifestyle, and arguably part of the fun. Friday captures that through a series of lifelike characters, great one-liners (“You got knocked the f–k out!), and relatable true-to-life situations – such as the drag of being hounded for cash by over-aggressive pot dealers – with an even burn.
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The Big Lebowski (1998)
That Jeffrey Lebowski is one certified stoner. There’s a subtle scent of pot smoke circulating throughout this film, but it’s there to give the viewer a deeper hold on the viewpoint of the burnt-out protagonist who just wants his fucking rug back – it really ties the room together. You’ll want to have already smoked by the point in the film where The Dude has been knocked out by a pair of home invaders (one looks like a very young Bokeem Woodbine, or that could be the weed talking) and falls into a dream sequence where he’s elevating over Los Angeles, chasing his stolen rug, to the tune of “The Man in Me” by Bob Dylan.
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Wonder Boys (2000)
In a film that’s almost as good as the classic Michael Chabon book it was inspired by, weed is the ever-present prescription for self-medicating writer and college professor Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas). As he navigates the murder of his mistresses’ husband’s dog at the hand of his star student, Tripp lights up every half-hour before he faints from unexplained dizzy spells.
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Outside Providence (1999)
Tim Dunphy and his buddies, including one called “Drugs Delaney,” of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, hit a parked cop car after a night of partying. When “Dunph” is banished to a prep school in “Cornhole, Connecticut,” he makes new friends by turning the entire campus on to good weed. In this Farrelly Bros. funny flick, everything from the soundtrack to the memories of school day smoking will make you want to puff one.
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Revenge of The Nerds (1984)
While the presence of marijuana isn’t prevalent in this ‘80s classic, there is that one epic scene where Booger pulls out the “wonder joints” and the silent frat house full of Tri-Lamb’s and Omega Mu’s switches instantly into Studio 54. It’s safe to say we’ll have whatever they are smoking.
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American Beauty (1999)
Before Kevin Spacey ruined all his movies for filmgoers everywhere, he did a wonderful job of portraying a doomed man going through a midlife crisis. Case in point, he buys his dream car — a 1970 Pontiac Firebird — as well as a bench press for his garage and starts buying some potent pot from a neighbor. Soon his wife starts an affair, and he catches the ire of a deviant psychopath across the street, but he deals with it all while smoking some high-grade stuff called “G-13.”
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Grandma’s Boy (2006)
Video gamers will recognize the star of this film from all those Adam Sandler movies. That guy, Allen Covert, plays a video game tester who is forced to move in with his grandmother (Doris Roberts) while falling for a woman managing the production of his video game company’s latest product. Not all the Very few critics loved this movie, but you’ll want to fire up a bowl of tasty nuggets before your next round of Minecraft on Twitch.
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Reefer Madness (1936)
The original titles of this film – Tell Your Children and, alternatively, The Burning Question, Dope Addict, Doped Youth, and Love Madness – tell you all you need to know about how marijuana was widely viewed in 1936. Ripe with highly dramatized misinformation, this one has been screened in jest in frat houses for decades.
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