How High Film

How High Film

How High understands the cultural difference between blacks and whites. If a black man wants to get his groove on with that rare breed of soul sister that actually likes Kevin Costner, a little weed goes a long way in keeping him awake during Field of Dreams. Everything comes at a price, though, which means SNL's Tracy Morgan might just make a cameo appearance during a brother's pot-induced version of the Costner film. The best stoner film since Friday, equal opportunity offender How High trades any semblance of plot in favor of ganja-stoked gags that crackle because they absurdly rework the college cliché through ghetto signifiers. While others may have used chocolate as a study aide, Silas (Method Man) and Jamal (Redman) ace their way into Harvard via smoking up. Their free-floating hallucinations are hysterical (occasionally witnessed by the sober sect), from a dwarf who dons Christmas attire to the Goliath-sized figure of Silas's mother hovering over a Harvard/Yale rowing match. Unlike the similarly themed Legally Blonde, How High's academic infiltrators are smart from the beginning (they're just unwilling to discard their Fubu for acceptance), suggesting academia should conform to the outsider rather than the other way around. First-time director Jesse Dylan has no real visual style yet he's in firm control of his hyper-extended jokes—Silas and Jamal take revenge out on a Pee-wee-esque student patrolmen's bike (which is put through the vehicular wringer). The filmmakers recognize only projectile vomit works nowadays while the Baby Powder pimp scene is about as wicked and honest a pot-moment since Ashton Kutcher tried to order Chinese food in Dude, Where's My Car?. That said, How High is perhaps best savored during that peak high where a Costner landscape begins to resemble a Malick existential crisis.


Director(s): Jesse Dylan. Screenplay: Dustin Abraham. Cast: Method Man, Redman, Lark Voorhies, Trieu Tran, Justin Urich, Al Shearer, Essence Atkins, Obba Babatundé, Fred willard, Anna Maria Horsford, Patrice Fisher, Sacha Kemp, Mike Epps, Chris Elwood, Hector Elizondo, Jeffrey Jones, Spalding Gray and Kathy Wagner. Distributor: Universal Pictures. Runtime: 94 min. Rating: R. Year: 2001.

How High Film

How High Film

Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

Theatrical Release: Dec 21, 2001 Wide

Box Office: $31,155,435

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.

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Method Man, Redman, Obba Babatunde, Mike Epps, Anna Maria Horsford
Director: Jesse Dylan
Screenwriter: Dustin Lee Abraham, Brad Kaaya
Producer: Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, James Ellis