High School (2010)

I know quite a few people I could recommend John Stalberg, Jr.'s High School to. Someone seeking a funny comedy while sober is someone I'd refer more in the direction of Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, or even John Waters, if they craved something transgressive and daring. You know those ominous adolescents who used to hang behind your school, doing God knows what? Get in contact with them. I got a film they might want to see.

This is a stoner film that only works if you're under the influence of some pretty strong marijuana. Viewing it without smoke of some sort floating in the air serves no purpose unless you want frustration to brew for an hour and a half. Considering that stoner films like Bio-Dome and the Harold and Kumar franchise work well on their own terms, without chemical reinforcement, to see High School completely rely on its audience's level of impairment seems like a shallow cop-out.

We get generic protagonists who attend the most generic high school run by the most generic principal in a generic uninteresting and contrived story about Henry and Travis (Matt Bush and Sean Marquette), two upperclassmen that plan to get the entire high school for no real reason other than the fact that the school has recently implemented strict drug testing and they figure by getting the entire school so dazed and confused it will lead to them to second-guess their decision. That makes about as much sense as randomly shooting guns in the air to show that Americans really need them, but that's logic when you're under the influence, I suppose.

They wind up putting keef, a chemical stronger than marijuana with advanced side effects, in the school's bake sale brownies, and sure enough, the school becomes stoned and the remainder of the film follows around these two idiots (one of them is a valedictorian, but I'll question where the brains are in his head) as they go to classroom after classroom, giggling childishly at the stoned school.

Where did they get that keef, you may be asking? From the local loser drug-dealer nicknamed "Psycho Ed" (Adrien Brody), who is equipped with a raspy voice, braided hair, full body tattoos, and lazy eyes. They steal it from his shack, and he quickly pursues them for the remainder of the film. Brody gives a dedicated performance here. Even as an Oscar winner, he doesn't appear to be taking the "collect the check" route unlike our good friend Nicolas Cage. On the other hand, Michael Chiklis portrays the deranged school principal, boasting a wig, a red beard, and glasses. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

High School originally ran at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival as a midnight movie and took two years to get DVD distribution, even with Adrien Brody, Michael Chiklis, and Colin Hanks headlining. Perhaps this means there's a middling interest for these kinds of films. Or ones that are simply done poorly. At least Brody appears to be having fun. That's more that can be said for the sober members of the audience.

NOTE: Let's hope it didn't take you this long to discover the ambiguity of the film's title, either.

Starring: Matt Bush, Sean Marquette, Adrien Brody, Michael Chiklis, and Colin Hanks. Directed by: John Stalberg, Jr.

Fmovies: This is a dull, predictable and dumb stoner movie that isn't funny or entertaining to watch. If you seen these types of genre before you can tell how everything is going to play out. The movie is called "High School" and most of the movie takes place in high school. But almost has nothing to do with high school. The whole movie could have taken place at a office building or a factory etc. And it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The plot is about a conceited teen and his stoner friend make a non-believable bromance and decides to make the whole high school high. So the conceited teen with the highest GPA in the school who smoked pot once can go to a good college even if he fails the drug test. Since they really can't do anything if the whole high school fails the drug test. But basically to sum the movie up, it's about how potheads rule and people that are against are the villains. If the movie is dumb but funny it would be watchable but that isn't the case. The whole movie is just a predictable dull mess. That tries very hard to be funny but just isn't. I don't know why Adrien Brody decided to play a part in this movie.

3.8/10

High School is what you will expect it to be. At times it feels clever and fun, whilst at other times you can tell it is following a template left by its predecessors. However, if you go into this film knowing that you will be bound to have a good enough time. Whilst nothing in this film is really noteworthy, you can appreciate High School for what it is and it never tries to be anything else.

A decent film, with funny times. If you have ever been in predicaments, you will surely relate. Even though it is not a groundbreaking film, for the majority of it I felt as if I was watching a pretty good comedy of which nothing else could get my attention.

High School fmovies. Most of the stoner comedy films that come along play pretty stupid and are an acquired taste. The latest High School looks to take the same template but add something a bit unique to it with more story. Is it possible to really be able to make a stoner film that stands out as more than just that or is it just a guise to attract a bigger audience.

High School follows a valedictorian who decides to take his first hit of pot only to find out that they are having random drug testing the same day. To try and nullify the test he teams up with the school's biggest stoner to attempt to get the entire school high. For the most part this is your typical stoner comedy, but thanks to the great cast and new twist with the story it manages to become something more and quite entertaining. Of course the story is highly unbelievable, but if you can set that aside and just have fun with it you are sure to have a great time. The entire cast does a great job, but two standouts come in the form of school faculty with Colin Hanks and Michael Chiklis. Hanks seems to just letting it all out to having a lot of fun not taking himself seriously and delivering some memorable moments. If Hanks is letting it all out, then Chiklis has split open and pours it out on the floor. His delivers a performance out of character that is both hilarious and a bit creepy. The obsessed principal he brings to life would easily become one of the more memorable film characters if this film got a wider release. Every aspect of his performance works and is bothersome on so many levels. The other stand out is Adrian Brody who is always good and seems to enjoy the stranger roles, but here just seems to lose his mind inside the character and become one with this psychotic drug dealer.

This movie is a lot of fun and reminiscent of the comedies of the 80's. Filled with a great cast, over the top story, and an original take on the stoner comedy High School will have you eager to light it up and smoke until the last puff.

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-dallas/bobby-blakey

The first 35 minutes of High School is some of the most comedy I have seen this year. Yea its in the vein of the Apatow/Seth Roganequse vein of witty banter and ridiculous situations. Unfortunately this films script is so sub plot ridden and contrived it losses me at a lot of places and as the movie goes on the novelty stops working.

Slacker/Stoner/High School Outcast films can work on many levels as character pieces, comedies, faux-action, satires, dramas, romances etc etc, there is very little that hasn't been tried and there is very little that hasn't had a good variation of said sub-genre. High School tries to do it all and its got that copy paste feel only a lazy screenplay can have.

Once again, there are some weird good things about this film, the people being high isn't always super over blown. Matt Bush owns his role pretty well. While Brody and Chikilas are over the top and having fun with what they have to do but it doesn't go anywhere there isn't anything new but at the same time its too all over the place to be a homage to stoner films of yesteryear.

If you like stoner comedies its worth a rental and there is stuff to laugh at but there isn't much of comfort zone in between laughs and boredom.

5/10

"Drugs, fornicating, a grown man singing about his feelings, it's time we win this war, expunge this school of all dope fiends." Henry Burke (Bush) has everything going for him. He has a scholarship to MIT and is in line to be his classes valedictorian. After an accident leads to detention he is brought back together with his old friend Travis (Marquette). They decide to take a break that night and unwind with a joint. After the school's representative in the national spelling bee loses it on TV the principal (Chiklis) institutes a mandatory drug test for everyone in the school. Fearing he will lose everything Henry and Travis come up with a plan. I am not really a fan of "stoner' comedy (I did like the Harold & Kumar movies) but the plot to this and the cast made it seem interesting to me. I was not disappointed. Adrien Brody is very funny as the man they steal from and Colin Hanks is good as a clueless asst. principle but Michael Chiklis steals the movie. Playing a clueless borderline pervert in charge of the school he is perhaps the funniest clueless principal since Ed Rooney. This is a very different style of stoner comedy and it is more like "Girl Next Door" then "Pineapple Express". This is nothing amazing but I enjoyed it and laughed quite a bit. Overall, a funny movie you can just put in and not think about, those are fun sometimes. I give it a B.