Post by StevePulaski on Sept 7, 2012 18:00:26 GMT -5
Rating: ★½
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.
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.