BY MIKEY MIGO
This past week I caught a stoner movie that came out under the radar recently. There are a lot of lower budget/non-mainstream stoner movies out there. It’s almost become its own genre. A lot of times these movies are bad and full of the same stoner jokes we’ve all heard, told, and participated in since the dawn of weed. It’s always a combination of boobs, munchies, over the top “trippy” effects, a freak out moment or two, actors who exhale weird, badly delivered lines, “weed nicknames are funny” jokes, a fantasy sequence, either a mascot-like dog or some other kind of animal joke fest, and if we’re lucky someone will get stoned who wasn’t expecting it! HA! It’s a shame that I know these stereotypes so well. I find enjoyment in these movies. They know who they’re making the movie for and they pander properly. I’m just a fan of the “smarter” stoner movies. They DO exist. These movies are better written and put a new twist on the genre.
Matt Walsh’s “High Road” is one of those movies. Matt Walsh is a familiar face to any real comedy fan. He’s an awesome supporting actor in A LOT of movies and is most respected for being a co-founder of the UCB comedy troupe. They hype the movie up as being “entirely improvised”. I believe this movie had to have had some sort of structure laid out. Maybe the dialogue was improvised, but the plot seemed to be pretty smooth and secure. This is most likely the same way a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” or Christopher Guest movie works. Whatever to that hype. It’s cool and all, but the movie seriously didn’t need a tag line like that. It’s funny as hell, scripted or not. The movie is about a stoner weed dealer who’s band, life, and relationship is going nowhere. He gets caught up in some drama and has to flee town. So him and some weird 16 year old douchey kid hit the road. They have their adventure while his girlfriend deals with some drama of her own. The stuff on the road is fun. “Fitz”, the main guy, meets a lot of fun personalities. The casting was sweet. Really, the cameos and overall production is “hella cool”. We get Lizzy Caplan, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Joe Lo Truglio, Horatio Sanz, and a few other familiar faces. They’re all around for just a little bit, but it’s a nice rotation for sure. The lead “Fitz” is played by a new comer James Pumphrey. I’ve not heard of the guy until now, but he was good. At first I didn’t think he’d be able to carry the movie, but he impressed for sure. I bet he blows up within the next few years. The movie had two big stand outs to me. SNL’s Abby Elliott played Fitz’s girlfriend “Monica”. I’m still not sold on her work on SNL, but she was awesome here. She played the perfect stoner girlfriend. She was one stand out, but the biggest was a supporting cast member. I never really paid too much attention to “Gabe” on “The Office”. He had to have gotten a laugh or three out of me in the past, but nothing stands out too much. Here, the actor Zach Woods made me a fan. He plays the asshole white collared mutual friend of the main guy and Abby Elliot’s character. I really dug this character and how he played it. The “type” has been done before, but the script and Woods brought freshness to it. I officially want to see Zach Woods in more things. The movie wasn’t without its charm. The “kid” being around and the relationship he had with Fitz was a little weird. It took a tad too long to get Fitz on the road. I appreciate the Abby Elliot time, but I feel the “road trip” portion of the movie could have used maybe one or two more stops and side characters. I think I just wanted it to keep going. It wasn’t perfect or anything, but this movie is seriously worth your time. If you have a spot in your heart for a good stoner movie then you’ll not regret it. If you’re not into that kind of thing then why are you still reading this? B
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