Is there anything better than watching a movie while high (cough, cough, exhale, toke)? Am I right? Wait. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, there just might be! And that’s watching a movie about getting high while you’re high. Heavenly, for sure. We all know the bangers: Up in Smoke (1978), Dazed And Confused (1993), Friday (1995), Half Baked (1998), Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), as well as the mids, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), The Beach Bum (2019), Pizza Movie (2026) and the anti-bangers you knew would blow: Nixon and Hogan Smoke Christmas (2010), Stonerville (2011), Mac & Devin Go To Highschool (2012), Good Mourning (2022) and one that was so bad it sobered me: Evil Bong (2006). But today we’re here to discuss the worst of the lot, the duds, the skunks, the ones that are particularly bad because we had such high hopes for them. We wanted some silly, some uppers, and we got dumbed down downers. Some heads even consider these to be classics, but we at Premium Def think they suck worse that 90’s dirt weed.

Here is our list of the top 5 worst and most overrated stoner comedies, in no particular order:

HOW HIGH (2001)

By the early 2000s, Method Man and Redman had more than proven that they had chemistry, musically that is, with their 1995 track How High (the single and remix) off the soundtrack to the Hip-Hop documentary film The Show (1995). For Redman’s 1996 music video Whateva Man, Meth and Red dressed up as the Blues Brothers (1980) and it just made sense. Their debut album as a duo followed with Blackout! (1999) which was, according to rumours, originally named America’s Most Blunted, which might have been too edgy for the mainstream at the time, in the eyes of executives, marketers and whomever else made that sissy call, that is. Anyway, Madvillain (R.I.P. MF DOOM) paid homage to this title in 2004 and in doing so claimed it. Long story short, fans were excited for a comedy featuring these proud, weed-loving, charismatic rap titans, and the film was a hit, but to me, being a diehard Wu-Tang and Def Squad fan who craved clever, real-talk writing and edge, it sucked. Now, I could have looked past the sloppy plot of the twosome using magic weed laced with their friend’s ashes in order to ace the SATs and get into Harvard, but with the entirety spiked with drab and lazy jokes, I only saw it for what it wasn’t. For example, and I quote: “I think if I study high, take the test high, I’ll get high scores, right?” I was hoping to inhale an east coast Friday, but this one felt more like Monday morning bong water.

WATCH OR NOT: NOT

Additional musings: But what about Meth in The Wire, you ask? Amazing.

DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR? (2000)

Sean William Scott had just shown us how hilariously off he was with his recent scene-stealing roles in the ensemble films American Pie (1999) and Road Trip (2000) and I for one was excited for him to co-star as a stoner in a dedicated stoner comedy. At the time, Ashton Kutcher was eager to hit the big screen, only it was byway of the exact same character he played on That ’70s Show (1998-2006). Dude, Where’s My Car? was a huge hit at the box office raking in over $100 million on a budget of $13 million. People loved it, but it infuriated me. Dude. This supposed stoner comedy features two dudes who are never shown smoking weed. That’s not sweet. Dude, why? Well to maintain a PG-13 rating of course. Now I like a good dumb dumb character and characters, but dumb does not equal charming, like say with Bill and Ted. These two are not the endearingly stupid kind, but the obnoxiously incompetent kind, so much so that they are not at all recognizable as human beings. There’s no weed and there’s even less subversive fun.

WATCH OR NOT: NOT

Additional Musings: It’s not worth a re-roll.

YOUR HIGHNESS (2011)

Okay, so this one was lambasted by critics at the time and was a financial bomb, but it gets a lot of love in the weed community, due to its exuberant and A-list cast members. And I was excited for this one, I mean how could a medieval-style fantasy/comedy spoof starring Natalie Portman, Danny McBride and James Franco go wrong? Well it does. McBride does a milder version of his patented Eastbound & Down (2009-2013) angry loser man, but with corny, immature, snarling observations devoid of wit. For example, McBride quips “This quest sucks”. That’s it. That’s the joke, and it’s one of the better ones. My guess is they figured the big budget and silly aesthetic would be enough, but what they didn’t realize is that we’re stoned, not stupid. It was a hit with the junior high crowd, not their fault as they were probably new to the audaciousness of a stoner film, but it’s simply unfunny.

WATCH OR NOT: NOT

Additional Musings: Portman says she had a blast making the film, but unfortunately her good time didn’t translate.

THE STONED AGE (1994)

We may get some flack for this one as it’s generally regarded as a cult classic with the stoner crowd and stoner critics alike. But as someone who was excited to watch it in 1994, I’m here to tell you it’s cliched at best. First off, it would not exist if Dazed and Confused hadn’t lit up the year prior. It’s a comedy that also centres around 1970’s nostalgia and teen weekend party culture, but it’s over the top and lame whereas Richard Linklater’s film is a thoughtful, well-acted, funny, coming-of-age masterpiece, with lines that live in zeitgeist to this day. I have never cited a scene or line from The Stoned Age; much of the acting is bad, it’s lowest of the low budget-wise, and not one character is even mildly likeable. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not the political incorrectness (in our current climate I mean), that’s irrelevant. I’m a HUGE fan of Porky’s (1981). Funny is funny. And The Stoned Age is not.

WATCH OR NOT: NOT

Additional musings: It’s boasts a killer classic rock soundtrack, I’ll give it that.

PAUL (2011)

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunited for this 2011 road-trip comedy about two nerds who help a weed-smoking alien escape the F.B.I. Oh, and the alien is voiced by Seth Rogan. This movie sounded like it was going to be the best thing I would ever see, forever and always. I mean c’mon, a sci-fi stoner comedy with three comedy legends? Unfortunately, it’s just nothing special and certainly doesn’t belong alongside Pegg, Frost and director Edgar Wright’s trilogy: Shaun of The Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) or even the disappointing The World’s End (2013). Now, in and of itself it’s not terrible. It’s the least lousy one on this list, but like these other burnouts, it confuses crude with humour. Crude humour can be funny and welcome, but it isn’t automatic. And too much is lazy. There’s are throwaways such as “Yo f***nuts. It’s probing time.” See what I mean? Now I love Seth Rogan and Paul is Seth Rogan, in every aspect aside from the physical appearance (Paul is CGI). But with Seth Rogan being transcendent like he is, I couldn’t get past imagining him delivering his lines into a microphone for the entire movie. Paul the alien just didn’t exist as a character. Here’s a thought, why not have him physically play the alien? This was a huge mis-step in my opinion.

WATCH OR NOT: NOT

Additional musings: I’ll admit that the film’s references to John Carpenter’s Starman (1984) and Steven Spielberg’s E.T. (1982) are fun and help, a little.