Super High Me

Before saying anything about this movie let me say this. I do not smoke pot.

I rented this movie thinking oh great, a funny stand-up doing material and thats what it was. A stand-up, who got all his stand-up friends to do little interviews about smoking pot. I gotta say, was laughing like crazy through most of it. But mixed in, was a lot of serious opinion and anger about government control of pot and clashes between state and federal laws.

If you are looking for something truly scientific and credible, this isn't it. If you are looking for a good time and don't mind some opinions, I highly highly recommend this movie. Doug Benson is funny as are his friends who appear and even the studies are funny.

Watch it, enjoy it, don't take it seriously!

A semi-spoof documentary of Super Size Me, which explores a similar premise to the McDonald's movie, but exchanges burgers with 'medical' marijuana. The lead of this movie is the no2 cannabis comedian in the country - Gary Cohan. He goes through before and after tests, describes his ordeal and does stand-up in the meantime.

Only three things really stand out in this movie: - the short presentation of the situation of medical marijuana in California, where federal law is raping state law and DEA is closing down and arresting legal medical marijuana stores; - the interesting observation that marijuana seems to have improved psychic abilities :); - the fact that the stand-up comic is way funnier on marijuana than off it...

Apart from that the movie is rather a bore and you really feel that it is too long and unnecessary. I'll give you one thing - its absurd that McDonald's is legal, while marijuana is forbidden.

For fans of Doug Benson's comedy, be it stand-up or "Best Week Ever", you'll get more out of this documentary on him as he goes 30 days with weed and 30 days without then other viewers. If one goes into the film expecting an intelligent documentary on the pros Vs. cons of weed you'll be vastly disappointed. One only needs to know that this was made 'in cahoots' (the film's words not mine) with 420 Partners Llc to know which side of the fence this film firmly sits on and thus skews the 'infomation' in that direction and to suit it's need. Propaganda in a way, not to say it's not (vaquely) entertaining in bits and pieces, it is. Just go into the film knowing that it's slanted and you'll be fine.

My Grade: C-

I saw this film in its Regional Premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. The point of the film seems to be to openly steal Morgan Spurlock's 30-Day premise from Super Size Me and apply to stoner comedian Doug Benson being stoned for 30 days. It lacks the originality of Spurlock's premise. For one, many people spend every day stoned and the affects are well-known. I agree with their premise that that they want to show that marijuana doesn't do much harm to human health and therefore should be legalized. But if this is the best they can do, it should perhaps offer some caution about the degree to which marijuana effects cognitive thinking skills and behavior. While it is a funny film at times, it adds little to the political debate - unlike the Spurlock film - and doesn't really offer anything new or interesting.

As the filmmakers (including Benson and director Blieden) volunteered during their Q & A after the film, they really didn't know what sort of film they wanted to make. Did they want to tell of Benson's humorous 30-day stoned journey? Did they want to make a political film about the dispute between state and federal authorities on Marijuana legalization in California? Or did they want to make a club film about Benson's comedy act during the period of his 30-day experiment? They couldn't really decide, so they combined all three efforts and the film shows that lack of a clear direction.

Also, they throw in all of these cameos with Benson's comedian buddies that add almost nothing to the film. Incidentally, their 10th amendment Constitutional arguments are poorly presented since there is a long tradition of Federal legal supremacy based on Article 4, section 2 of the Constitution which has been the basis of America's Federal system of government for centuries.

So it is good for a few laughs and its own political diatribe, but it could have been much better. One of the best points that they make is that medical marijuana is, in many cases, an excuse for recreational drug usage. They imply that it is sort of farce and real debate should be over the legalization of recreational use. If we want to have that debate, let's find better film makers and other advocates to make that argument, because this barely qualifies as a political documentary. I recommend the film "Grass" which is a much better film and presents a fascinating history of the prohibition of marijuana in the U.S.

the main character seems to have some kind of depression problem. he is not motivated, has hardly an intellect, and half-asses his efforts the entire time throughout the movie. okay, i like to smok, a lot, but this movie was really a waste of time. the main character is such a slob lookin kind of guy, and he acts like a slob too. i am upset to see this man representing how good weed can be, or how it doesn't screw you up when you smoke, cause he looks blazed a lot. also, he is so damn boring, i can't remember his name, the is NO co-star or anything like that, and the movie has no direction. you would think if someone was serious about making a movie to sway public opinion, this would be kept off the shelves. on the plus side, you might get a few laughs in, as i did, but overall, wow. pretty much a waste of time.