Top 12 Drug Comedies

Hello loyal readers, and welcome to another edition of Dustin's Dirty Dozen. This time we celebrate the holiday of left overs by listing the movies that give us the munchies, with the top 12 drug comedies. These are movies specifically about drugs or just with funny tripping scenes, and they are all comedies. Last issue I preempted this list by saying "Drug Movies," but I realized that there are way too many selections if I don't specify the genre. So with that, let's toke up and count off.

12) Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny

This movie celebrates a comedic band whose lead singer happens to be a major motion picture star. It is also pretty damn funny in its own right. Whether it is just the hilarious songs done by the band the movie is about or just the plot itself, this movie will have you rolling. Since this movie is about a band, obviously there are going to be a lot of drugs in it. The opening to the movie is an animated version of the band smoking a very large blunt, so it prepares you for what to expect. The top scene in this movie is when they are smoking weed and Kyle has control of the television. Jack wants to change the channel and Kyle says "when you can snatch the remote from my hand, you can choose the channels we watch." I would say that this movie hit home for me in a universe where I got high since "that me" would love watching kung fu while high; however, since this universe is read by people who frequently piss test me, I won't say anymore than that.

11) Get Him to the Greek

Let us just assume from this point forward that if a movie has something to do with a band or singer (even a fictional singer) it will have a fair amount of drug use in it. This movie was more comedy than drug comedy, but it had one of the best trip out scenes I have seen. Sure, you have the morale of the story being some sort of "the spotlight of Hollywood is addicting and tainted" or whatever, but that all goes out the window with this scene. It starts with Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) doing a mysterious drug called Jeffrey, this leads to him going through a bad trip and Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) having him stroke a furry wall to keep him calm. Things start to fall apart during this scene for our main characters, and throughout everything that is going on, Aldous makes sure that Aaron is stroking the furry wall. Eventually, Aaron passes out and is stabbed with a needle of adrenaline causing him to scream "I'm alive!" at the top of his lungs and join in the calamity surrounding him. It's hard not to laugh during this scene.

10) Super Troopers

This movie is a different kind of drug movie, usually drug movies entail that the characters will be high during the better half of the movie, or have that one good trip scene with drug use spread through out. This movie is about a group of highway patrol officers trying to stop a large shipment of marijuana from entering their borders. You still have a scene where the troopers are smoking pot with a convict, and a good trip scene at the beginning of the movie; but it isn't what people generally consider a drug movie. More like a cop comedy. Anyways, the scene that stole this movie is hard to say, since there are so many memorable ones. It is probably the trip scene at the beginning of the movie, since there are so many memorable lines in it. "Littering and... Littering and.... Littering and.... smoking the reefer;" also "The snozzberries taste like snozzberries."

9) Grandma's Boy

Grandma's Boy is one of the few Happy Madison movies where Adam Sandler does not show his face. Instead he sends his usually supporting cast out to see what they can do, and the result is one of the best Happy Madison films that I have seen (go figure, the absence of Sandler still makes a good movie). It takes the viewer into the lives of game testers, and the hilarious "high-jinks" they get into. The best scene in this movie belongs to the character Dante when he says "I'm way to baked to drive to the devil's house," then the scene skips to the monkey driving them to their destination. It's not the monkey that sells this scene for me; it is the hilarious dialogue between the two stoners.

8) 21 Jump Street

Another buddy cop movie centered around drugs, this time based off of an old television series. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum take on the lead roles as two cops that appear to be the department screw-ups, and the team up is one of the best I have seen in a while. While the movie is one of the better comedies that came out last year, there is one scene that stands out among all of the other good ones (if you don't take the tripping scene into account). It starts with the boys getting ready to for a party, which leads them to the evidence locker of their station to score drugs for their party. 

Tatum pulls out a bag and says "Got a pound of coke." 

Hill replies "We're trying to show them a good time, not ruin their fucking lives"

"Pound of Marijuana?"

"Best party ever!"

7) Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

Harold and Kumar are new to the world of pot smoking duos (in comparison to the other, more famous pot smoking duos), but they are now more memorable than most of their predecessors (whether that is because of their infancy or how good they are, I couldn't tell you). The scenes in all of their movies are memorable and quoted throughout almost everyvenue I have been to. White Castle is their best one to me, since it originated the duo and seemed more down to earth than the other two. The best scene in this movie has to be when he envisions a life with a big bag of weed. They could have just stopped at him and the bag of weed dancing in a field or something, but they took it so far. Kumar having sex with it, a domestic abuse scene; it was so over the top and hilarious.

6) Jay and Silent Bob: Strike Back

Another pot smoking duo, not as new as the others, but even funnier. As stated in another issue Kevin Smith is the master of dialogue, and this movie may not be the best example of why that is, but it is still good. It has more moments of visual comedy than actual funny dialogue, but there are moments where it seems he put forth more effort into their conversation. I know there seems to be a heavy amount of humor that is at the expense of the LGBTQ community, but I don't think that fact was lost on Smith. It's a bit evident when one of the characters comments on a movie being an hour and half long gay joke. The best part in this is probably the "bong-saber" battle with Star Wars veteran Mark Hamill, just for the part where Jay pauses the fight to take a toke out of the weapon.

5) Half Baked

This time the creators experiment with a trio of pot smoking buddies (if you don't include the guy that went to jail towards the beginning of the film), and the results are pretty amazing. Dave Chappelle has starred in movies before, but this was his first attempt at writing for a movie, and (surprising no one) it was about the good ole Mary Jane. It's nice to go back in Chappelle's career and look at where he was at before his most famous project "Chappelle's Show," even more so now since it doesn't seem like he has much of a career left. The best scene was the descriptions of different types of people that smoke weed; not to be confused with the most memorable scene, when Scarface quits his job and goes on the "fuck you" rampage.

4) Friday

Friday is something casual movie goers can reference as an instant classic, I don't know if I can go that far but it was damn good. The movie has spawned two sequels that I still refuse to watch, because I fear that they are going to mess with the original formula of Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. I know that is a bit unfair, but I also know there are plenty of movie sequels that people don't plan on watching because of a similar reason (Anyone seen "S. Darko" or "Still Waiting?") There are plenty of memorable moments, from the neighborhood bully, Deebo, to the tripping scene when Ice Cube smokes weed. I can't really decide which one is the best off of memory alone, probably the scene where Deebo get's beat by Craig. This movie's goal was to give a more realistic, comedic portrayal of life in the hood, but it makes a good home as a drug comedy as well.

3) Cheech and Chong: Up in Smoke

Cheech and Chong are the most memorable pot smoking duo by far. Whenever a person thinks of marijuana, it seems that a quote from a Cheech and Chong movie is not far behind (as well as a Bob Marley song and shirt, but don't get me started on that annoying theme from "band wagon potheads"). Their movies live on as classics in the world of marijuana and comedy, and you would be hard pressed to find someone who does not know who they are. "Up in Smoke" is their first movie and their best. Everyone remembers the scene where they are driving around smoking that huge blunt, so I'm going to say that is the best. Cheech and Chong are the pair of potheads that set the standards for all movies that deal with the drug and will be remembered for all time as the best example for weed movies.

2) Pineapple Express

Just because the two above this are the most memorable doesn't mean that their movies are the best. I know most of you with a soft spot for classic movies will probably disagree with them being so far down on the list, but this movie and the one below it are simply amazing. You won't find a better written movie than these two. For the time it came, "Pineapple Express" was the best written movie to come out in the past decade, and that is overall, not just for drug comedies. As before, there are so many memorable scenes that it is pretty hard to come up with a scene that sticks out as the best. You could say it was the cross joint or the scene with Danny McBride tied up with a bunch of duct tape, but really the entire movie was good. If you haven't seen it please do yourself the favor of watching it; you are missing out on an historic film.

1) Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

It was hard for me to define what genre "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" belonged to at first. So I went with what IMDB had it listed as (turns out it is adventure/comedy). I guess that works, since it was funny in more of a dark, messed up sort of way. As soon as I figured out that it was a comedy, I couldn't think of anything better to put up here as my numero uno. Benicio Del Toro and Johnny Depp work perfectly off of each other, and luckily this movie was filmed before Johnny started having a say in the creative process of the films he stars in, so he didn't ruin it (but that topic is for another list entirely). If you read the book or just love the actors in the movie, you can't go wrong here; plus, you'll finally get what all those memes about "bat country" were about.

Honorable Mention) Beavis and Butt Head: Do America

I now give you the single best trip scene in any movie, but I guess peyote does that to you. Of course, I wouldn't know.

Next Time on Dustin's Dirty Dozen: A mystery!  I'm not sure what list I will be following this list up with, or even if I will be following it up at all. I have a limited amount of time left in the country I am currently in, and when I leave here I will be starting a video review of movies. I'll still be doing DDD for special occasion's (Top 12 romantic comedies for Valentine's Day, Top 12 war movies for Memorial Day, etc.) but at this time I don't know if my schedule will permit me to do these lists in weekly succession.

However!

Next Time on Dustin's Dirty Dozen: *Special Edition* "Tangled" vs. "Frozen" I compare the current great Disney film to the last great Disney film. Enjoy when it comes out!