Ten Great Stoner Movies That Are Not About Weed

admini · #1 05-01-2012, 09:55 PM

Ten Great Stoner Movies That Are Not About Weed

We’ve all seen the list: Half Baked, Pineapple Express, Dazed and Confused — classics for sure, but what about when you want to sit down and smoke up, but aren’t in the mood to watch people sit down and smoke up? Wonder no more.

10. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is the perfect stoner movie for so many reasons. You don’t need to pay attention (there’s no way of understanding it without supplementary internet reading) so feel free to tune in only when the giant, Grim Reaper-esque rabbit named Frank is on screen, or when Jake Gyllenhaal sees those trippy tracers. Not to mention you get your Seth Rogen fix.

MOVIES LIKE IT: Fight Club (1999), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Black Swan (2010)

9. The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

If you smoked pot in fourth grade, you probably did it right before your teacher read Roald Dahl books to the class. Wes Anderson’s movies cater to the stoned/stoned at heart, and Mr. Fox is the only one that doesn’t include a joint or two (have to imagine there’s a lot of off-screen vape sessions going down in those tunnels). Fox has the blasé comedy Anderson is known for, voiced to perfection by favorites Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson. Plus everyone looks like a stuffed animal.

MOVIES LIKE IT: Toy Story (1995), Wall-E (2008), James and the Giant Peach (1996)

8. Jurassic Park (1993)

Pick the friend with the biggest TV, grab your favorite summer blockbuster from years past, and turn the volume way up. On this front you can do no better than Jurassic Park, whose effects are top-notch twenty years later. Take a hit every time a park worker assures skeptical Ian Malcolm that nothing can go wrong. You will be blazed by the time Newman gets acid-spit to the face.

MOVIES LIKE IT: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Men In Black (1997)

7. Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland (1989)

Before clownfish Nemo, there was little Nemo. Adventures in Slumberland warrants as many comparisons to Inception as it does the classic 2D animation of old school Disney and Don Bluth. With dazzling animation and a plot that never stops to wonder if it’s making any sense at all, Nemo is one of those movies that devolves like a dream, actually; once the nightmare begins, there’s no slowing it down.

MOVIES LIKE IT: Peter Pan (1953), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Fantasia (1940)

6. Heavyweights (1995)

Going to your grade school roots is a great way of unearthing stoner classics you might have missed back in the day. Heavyweights is at the top of this list, highlighted by a tour-de-force from Ben Stiller as highly-motivated, highly-strung Tony Perkis (not to mention Tom Hodges’s Oscar-snubbed supporting role as Lars). “Attention campers: lunch has been cancelled due to lack of hustle. Deal with it.”

MOVIES LIKE IT: The Goonies (1985), Jumanji (1995), The Sandlot (1993)

5. Gary the Tennis Coach (2009)

Sometimes you just got to play the Redbox lottery. Hopefully you’re stoned when you win big, making the night all the more memorable (or unmemorable, depending how stoned you are). Gary the Tennis Coach features a career-performance by Sean William Scott — yes, better than American Pie, Dude, Where’s My Car?, or even Role Models. The humor is slapstick, offbeat, dark as hell, grotesque, low-brow – you name it, there’s a joke here for you. The best way to keep a stoner’s attention is to keep them asking “What the hell is this?” Gary manages that to the very end.

MOVIES LIKE IT: Team America: World Police (2004), Flight of the Concords: A Texan Odyssey (2006), Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

4. The Wrong Guy (1997)

Dave Foley might be the most underrated stoner icon of this generation, considering his turns on NewsRadio and Kids in the Hall, but nothing compares to his painfully funny lead role in The Wrong Guy. The incompetent Nelson Hibbert thinks he’s been framed for murder, despite police taking all of five minutes to identify the real perp. Unfortunately, Nelson doesn’t know this, forsakes his life, and goes on the lamb, doing his best to avoid the police he’s positive are on his tail. What stoner can’t relate to that?

MOVIES LIKE IT: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Dumb and Dumber (1996)

3. Alien (1979)

Alien is the best sci-fi movie ever and its creepiness is maximized by dank herb. The slow buildup allows you time to break up your stuff, roll something fat and smoke it to the halfway… just in time for the infamous chest-bursting sequence. From then on out Alien is a master-class in suspense, not to mention the mesmerizing Giger set designs are easy to stare at. Paranoid tokers beware.

MOVIES LIKE IT: Beats me man.

2. Akira (1988)

If you thought Nemo was a spectacle, you ain’t seen nothing yet. For some reason the anime and stoner circles don’t seem to link up as often as they should. Akira is bigger, bolder, more colorful, and bizarrely plotted than any live-action movie could aspire to. If you’re a social smoker wanting to have a conversation while taking in the sights of Neo-Tokyo, you’ll enjoy. For those who get plain dumb: pay attention. Akira’s narrative will take you to places in your mind you didn’t know were there.

MOVIES LIKE IT: Spirited Away (2001), Paprika (2006), Summer Wars (2009)

1. The Happening (2007)

If you haven’t seen The Happening I envy you, because that means sometime in your life you will see The Happening for the first time, and I hope to god you’re high. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel compete for comedic performance of the decade in the most expensive Sci-Fi Channel original ever made. Watch as the world tries to figure out how the grass and trees are getting people to jump of buildings, lay down in front of lawn mowers, and, best of all, jump into the lion’s den at the zoo. Damn you nature!

MOVIES LIKE IT: The Wicker Man (2006), Shark Attack 3 (2003), Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)

What did we miss? Shout out your favorites in the comments below!

Posted on May 1, 2012

Ten Great Stoner Movies That Are Not About Weed | Marijuana.com