Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (March 26, 2024)
Back in 1998, Half Baked took up the stoner comedy mantle from Cheech and Chong. Though the film didn’t sell many tickets, it eventually turned into a cult hit on video.
More than a quarter century later, a sequel finally arrives. 2024’s Half Baked: Totally High looks at the next generation of pot lovers.
JR (Dexter Darden), Miles (Moses Storm), Cori (Ramona Young) and Bruce (Joel Courtney) bonded years ago when they smoked a joint together. However, this long-time affection leads to Bruce’s death after he puffs on a legendary three-strain doobie that can only be ingested by a “Chosen One”, and that ain’t him.
The three surviving pals need to find a way to raise the funds to transport Bruce’s corpse across country to New Jersey for its burial. This leads the pot-loving buddies to sell weed on their own, an enterprise that leads to threats from outside parties.
Man, that seems like a dark theme for what I figured would offer a goofy stoner comedy. I never saw the 1998 film, but a look at its synopsis implies a less grim concept at its core.
The 1998 flick also came with a fairly young Dave Chappelle in his first lead film role. 25 years from now, will we look back at High as a career launching point for Darden, the actor who plays the son of Chappelle’s character?
Probably not, though now in his 30s, Darden isn’t all that young, and he enjoys a pretty sizable roster of prior roles. In particular, the Maze Runner franchise acts as his main claim to fame, though he played a supporting character there.
Again, since I never viewed the 1998 flick, I can’t judge how Chappelle came across in that flick. Talented as he proved to be, that doesn’t mean he excelled as an actor in a feature film.
I can say that Darden doesn’t show a ton of comedic potential, as he seems out of his league. Actually, I suspect he boasts superior dramatic chops compared to Chappelle, but given that High wants to give us a broad farce, comedic chops become the most important.
Darden doesn’t flop, but he also fails to give JR real comic zing. The same goes for Young and Storm, both of whom seem perfectly competent but no better.
As a film, High also comes across as moderately watchable and that’s about it. Admittedly, given that we find a direct-to-video sequel to a movie from more than 25 years ago, “moderately watchable” feels like a rave review.
When I went into High, I hoped to find something amusing and clever. However, I didn’t expect that, as I figured it’d more likely give us a tacky and witless affair than a comedic gem.
Based on what I anticipated I’d find, I’d call High a success. Based on what I view as cinematic entertainment… not so much.
High musters just enough professionalism and plot drive to keep the viewer mildly involved. However, it can’t do anything more than that.
The primary issue here comes from the stale nature of the whole project. Nothing about the characters or themes ever stands out as creative, and the execution fails to compensate for this lack of inventiveness.
Do any laughs result? Not really. Do we care about JR and the others? Also not really.
Nonetheless, High delivers a competent production that manages to achieve a form of acceptable mediocrity. Call that faint praise if one must, but “better than the atrocity I anticipated” feels like a victory to me.
Footnote: as far as I can tell, only one castmember from the 1998 movie reappears here. I won’t say who other than to note a) this person pops up very briefly and b) it’s not Chappelle.
