How High (2001) Online

It's been done before in "Friday", and "Up in Smoke." There's no great plot line. There's no moral plea. There's no character development, cool graphics, intense cinematography or internal conflict. And yet.

This movie defies all the rules of story writing and film making. The absolute preposterousness of the storyline alone is intellectually offensive. And yet.

It was hilarious. From beginning to end, I laughed.

Warning: This is what my mother would call "ignorant humor". The things that in the opinion of the majority degrade and offend, but for some reason are funny.

Rappers Method Man (Wu Tang Clan) and Redman play two "potheads" (for lack of a better term) who through the use of a magical herb attain brilliance and gain acceptance to Harvard University. There is a scene that spoofs the old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercial where Method's character Silas sits in his car with a bag of contraband and no blunt. In the next car Redman's character Jamal sits in his car with blunt and no contraband. And thus a friendship is born. The two Ivy Leaguers wreak havoc along the Eastern Seaboard Cheech and Chong style.

You can tell by watching his MTV Cribs special that he has a funny bone. But who knew Redman was a bonafide comedian. Method Man was more or less the straight man but the rest of the ensemble cast provided enough laughs to split your sides. Especially notable was Mike Epps who portrayed Babypowder the Pimp. Can you imagine a pimp at Harvard? The alumni will no doubt write many letters.

Parents: The subject matter of this film is questionable. This film may not be suitable for children. Unless you smoked a lot of "grass" back in the 70's. Then you can't trip because you'll be hypocrite if you do.

There's more marijuana in this film than "Friday" and "Next Friday" put together. If that's a turn on for you then by all means see the film.

If it's a turn off for you go see it anyway. The Harvard Pimp is worth it.

Don't tell my mother I laughed.

Being a proud fan of lowbrow humor and a fan of Method Man and Redman, "How High" seemed like a no-brainer comedy, and I was right! This movie can only do harm to people who get offended easily at racial stereotypes, pot smoking and more pot smoking. The movie pokes fun at everyone; class and race. One glance at How High would make you think they're trying to make another "Animal House". Well, I think it's up there. It's got everything except the fraternities. From childish pranks to goofy humor, Meth and Red carry the movie to its predictable conclusion. Many people will write this off as another "Black comedy", but it really is a comedy for everyone. It just "happens" to star two charismatic rap artists. Director Jesse Dylan (yes, Bob's son) knows how to set up a joke and pull the punchline. This film is far funnier than the last two "Friday" films combined (Yes, let's just compare it to other pothead comedies). The supporting cast is terrific as well, including the clueless Fred Willard and uptight Obba Babatunde. The only downside is Mike Epps' pimp character, done much better by Eddie Griffin in "Deuce Bigalow."

The bottom line: Rent it, have a few beers and some good laughs without taking it too seriously.

I understand the fact that everyone has got their own taste when it comes to a movie genre and therefore some might feel that a "comedy" is based on a particular set of principles, essentially going into humour. But there are different ways in which many people perceive humour, some believe it's all about the jokes, some enjoy the swearing involved and others might love the typical Woody Allen script.

This movie isn't set to achieve an Oscar or any kind of prestigious award. I am pretty sure that that was the last thing that came through the writer's and director's minds. The only thing they intended to do was to make a film that could be enjoyed by the audience that loves the stereo-typing comedy films, which to be honest is growing faster and faster. And they nailed it.

The story is hilarious, the acting, well method and redman are hilarious at what they do best, which is fool around. Don't expect any intelligent sophisticated humour or satire. I'm not implying that the movie is full of dumb humour, on the contrary, its loaded with brilliant funny situations and loads of jokes. If you liked soul plane, then you're going to love this one.

So don't vote negatively just because it wasn't your cup of tea and try to understand that there's a different generation out there that really appreciates a good fun entertaining movie to watch as they also appreciate the other styles of "comedy".

Firstly I want to say: I have to comment this film as reaction to negative commentaries. I found that people who have written attacking commentary must have a bad experience with drugs (I mean light, I count alcohol in this group), or are hypocritical and never taste it. Most people are enjoying talking (and writing) about things that they don't know and that they don't understand. I vote 9 because it is great comedy even I know that most people will not understand 90 percent of jokes. But every voting is subjective, isn't it? So for people who did not see this film ever and maybe they will: don't expect anything, because expectation will make deformation of your feelings and understanding. And If you are apriori of anti-drugs intence: do not see it rather. It is very easy to give it bad evaluation but it is very difficult to make good comedy. Keep it in mind and vote if you like it. And if you liked it, watch it again: you will find another jokes.

For everyone who doesn't like movies about weed,stop reading this is not your movie. Some non pod smokers will think the movie is OK. But this is the 'CULT' movie of smoking weed. From the 1st scene till the last scene,this movie does not stop. There are none not funny scenes to built up the story. You could see is as one funny sketch after the other. The story basically is a guy Silas, who grows weed,and one day his friend dies. He puts his ash in his next plant,that he names after him(The Ivory,still want to smoke that one day). He meets another pod head at THC's(test for higher learning) and with the help of Ivory they get the highest score. And they choose the Ivy League atmosphere of Harvard. They turn Harvard up side down. You have to smoke one before you watch this movie,it's still funny if you don't,but its meant to be seen stoned!!!! I've seen this movie about 20 times,and I'm from the country where the realest smokers be(Holland) and we all dig this movie,you HEARD,this is the smokers bible!!!! What are you doing get some grass and watch this movie!!!

5.2??? I saw this film was rated 5.2 so I went to watch it expecting a pretty poor film...

I WAS VERY WRONG! This film is hilarious!!Method man and Redman (suprisingly) made me laugh so much and soooo often!! Especially in the "get him" scene! It may a good movie but its definitely aimed at all you hip-hop/comedy lovers.

Essence Atkins looks HOOOT too!!!

GOOD MOVIE-great fun for all those wanting a movie...lacking a great story line but filled with loads of laughs.

8/10 is a very fair score-give the movie a try. you'll like it

Jesse Dylan's (yes son of Bob Dylan if that's and indication) How High is a concoction of weed, more weed, college and sheer belly laughs. There is something about marijuana used in comedies that makes the comedy better, though it depends on if the jokes are delivered right and with the right zing. Cheech and Chong had that to a T and comedies like Half Baked and Friday got pretty close to that tradition, as does this movie which is surprising since this is Method Man and Redman's first comedy together and is co-produced by Danny DeVito.

Method Man here is a mass weed grower who grinds the ashes of his departed friend into his plant which helps him and his new friend played by Redman, score high on exams that get them excepted into Harvard university. This kicks off the usual lot of characters you would expect in a college comedy- the losers, the jock, the overly harsh teachers and dean, the nice girl the lead gets and other girls.

From the looks of that plotline it looks pretty standard and it is if you take the film as seriously as you would Up In Smoke and Animal House, but the film's big kick comes from the charm (did I just say that?) and humor from the two stars, the gags they encounter and the supporting characters input as well. In other words, if you mind the grass, this isn't for you, but for people who are fans of the stars or just want a high comedy time, this is for you. Hector Elizondo, Jeffrey Jones have small parts; Cypress Hill appears unbilled. A-

I seen this movie this weekend and I about died laughing! Method Man and Redman are histarical together. Half-Baked doesn't even compare to this movie...Actually I can't think of any movie that can! I suggest this movie to anyone looking for a good laugh!

How High is just what Amercia needed in this year, a funny flick that doesn't take itself seriously. The plot is good and the acting by Method Man whose always good is great. Redman and Mike Epps both steal every scene their in as does I Need Money. My only problem with the film was the lack of nudity. But I still give it a 5/5.

It's pathetic when a stoner movie sucks even when you've been partying. The biggest problem I had with this was the rampant racism. If this movie was made by two whites and showed such awful stereotypes of blacks the cries of racism would be heard all over. Except for some reason blacks are allowed to do this? The white people in this movie are all portrayed as dumb, stuck-up, prudish, etc. Of course our brothers are the cool ones who turn everyone around, right? The problem with this movie compared to say Animal House, is that they aren't the innocent party being picked on by the system. Instead, they are a couple of complete @$$#0!3s who are the antagonists and start their own battles. They instigate the animosity by being a bunch of loud-mouth, ignorant, aggressive jerks. However I guess for the viewer we're suppose to think it's funny, otherwise we're racists ourselves cuz that's 'their way'. The part with digging up the corpse while dragging their whining fat white roommate along just revolted me. In the real world their fat white roommate would have turned them in and the two would have been arrested - but then that would have been racism, right?

Aside from that the jokes are stupid and there's a lot of inaccuracies (maybe the film makers could use a semester at a college themselves). For instance, the Chinese kid whose the "youngest Harvard freshman ever" looks like he's 22. Also when Silo or whatever his name is picks a bud off his pot plant & smokes it, the bud is hanging whereas buds grow upright. Nor does he dry and cure it first. Not very smart for the smart grower he's suppose to be.

I wish Hollywood would produce an intelligent stoner movie for once that caters to people with an IQ over 85.

I have to be biased here: I love Meth and Redman's music. Whether it's solo, in collaborations with others, or when they do an album together. these two are among the premier rappers in the industry. So despite the films heavy emphasis of promoting marijuana use, which I'm not sold on, I had to see this movie, because I'm a big fan of rap music and would rather see these guys in films over the likes of Britney and Mariah any day.

How High is hilariously funny, but it's not for everybody. You have to be fans of these fine gentlemen or have a crazy sense of humour. The rappers play Silas and Jamal, two young men who live for their pot and sexing. One day, after a friend of Silas was killed in a hilarious accident, Silas and Jamal are smoking a potent type of pot that gives them a high that allows them to "see dead people", namely Ivory, the man who was killed in the accident. He is able to give them the answers to all the questions on their SATs and that allows them to go to any college they want, and so they pick Harvard.

The film has them doing their thing, turning Harvard upside down with their decidedly different attitude and angering the dean (Obba Babatunde, with his name as Dean Cain, after the actor from Superman:The Series).

There are some crazy scenes in this film, such as when they run out of the special pot and they go to a graveyard to dig up the body of President John Quincy Adams, hoping that his brain could help them pass the courses or that weirdo who passes out tickets reacts to seeing his bicycle being destroyed. This film is so out there!

The acting is actually good and the characters have vibrancy. Also in the film are another great rap group, Cypress Hill, and former NBC alums Anna-Marie Horsford (Amen), Fred Willard (DC Follies), and yes, Lisa from Saved By The Bell (Lark Voorhies).

The DVD contains a lot of stuff, from the usual documentaries, music videos, commentary, etc to neat things like the "Hide The Stash" game where you have to find Meth and Red's pot by clicking on the correct 420 and there's even a preview of Eminem's "8 Mile" film. All in all, a lot of fun; if you're like me in my mind frame, see it. This film might be a cult rental like Showgirls and The Doors are for me.

These doper movies play a game, a delicate game. The idea is primarily to make fun of stereotypes while at the same time exploiting them. They satisfy the relatively dumb viewers (like me) while making fun of them.

That's a long tradition in humor and especially ethnic and black humor directly derived from self-deprecating Yiddish vaudeville.

The story container is the same as in all sorts of similar projects: a collection of skits, some of which extend far to one side of this balance or another. Some are laughing with you, some at you.

So how you receive this has something to with whether you are the targeted demographic and the rest to do with your mood at the time. Since the nature of the audience, its edge, changes so quickly, the balance in the humor goes out of date soon after release, so these movies are poor rentals.

But I have to say that this one hit me right in the center. I liked it.

Here's an indicator. Early in the movie a stoner dies and becomes a ghost who can only be seen when his buddies are stoned on pot grown in his ashes. Perhaps an ordinary movie would just stop there.

The setup is that this guy rents Kevin Costner movies as a ploy to get sex. He is rebuffed so has to watch them alone, stoned of course. He sees himself in the movie, in the field of dreams in a baseball suit.

Cool folding there. Tells us we are with a writer or filmmaker who knows what folding is about. This is straight Bob Dylan.

There's some dialog about this folding. Then he passes out, catches fire, falls out a high window. Wait, he survives, stands up then gets creamed by a bus.

Remember that scene in "Something About Mary" when the dog was electrocuted then thrown out the window. Same space, friends. You laugh, then laugh at yourself for laughing taunted by something behind the actors.

It is a nearly perfect scene. See it just for that one risk.

Much of the rest is dumb.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

I have no words to express my disgust at this mockery of a movie. Oh man, did this movie really suck, I mean REALLY suck, in a very very bad way. I suppose the premise was funny, that is, if you haven't ever watched Up in Smoke. Just think of it like an Up in Smoke crossed with a "hey look, I'm black...and you're not" movie (boy, I can't wait for Steve Martin's Bringing Down the House), and throw in a very generous dash of your stereotypical college movie (such as Van Wilder). Mix all parts, strain the worst parts from each, cut out any funny dialogue, then make sure the sections are poorly edited.

I am very glad that I didn't pay money to see this movie. If you're thinking about renting it - don't. Unless you're very VERY high. In which case you should rent Up in Smoke instead.

As side note, this movie doesn't end. It stops. Why does it just stop? I mean literally, the last few seconds of the movie are a frozen frame of nothing in particular, then the credits start rolling. There is no sense of conclusion, or even a final laugh. The editor should be fired.

How High knows it is simply a vanity project to give a couple rappers a day job and an IMDb credit. The two being: Method Man as Silas: A smart cookie and renowned local weed-chemist who would rather be developing new strains of powerful weed than furthering his education.

Redman as Jamal: A street smart but not very book smart young guy who wants to get into college only because his Mum demands it.

When the ghost of Silas's deceased friend helps them ace the entrance exam with perfect scores – yep it's that easy folks – they decide Harvard is the place for their further education.

Both guys nab hotties in quicktime, Meth the cute egghead and Red the crazy skank from esteemed parentage.

The usual "cool but frankly inappropriate guys getting up to stuff while the squares gasp" ensues.

Fred Willard is the oblivious old white guy in a senior role who thinks these two guys are just super. Hector Elizondo is the old white guy in a senior role who suddenly thinks he is black and ends up acting thusly, and the film ends with a formal gathering in which the boys get everyone stoned and the staid old white people getting fonkay in impromptu fashion. (If you're a stoner and fret that this will ruin your enjoyment thanks to the spoiler don't worry, you'll forget in just a minute anyway.) In between are various parties, pranks, white people not understanding and such. In answer to the obvious question of How High? The two guys are perpetually stoned and therefore very high, the movie unfortunately never scales any such heights.

Final Rating – 5 / 10. About what you think it will be. A couple of charismatic guys spouting slang and cracking wise at those in the "establishment" (Damn You Establishment!).

The moral of the story here is that stoner comedies are made for stoners. In 20 years of watching films I can recall only one that made me laugh, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle… and even that wasn't great.

But who am I to hate: Toke on mediocre film makers!

How High is a film that lends nothing, I repeat, nothing to the film community at large. I have read some critics that say that this film introduced a whole new generation to the Cheech & Chong of the new millennium with the Redman/Method Man pairing. While most seem to agree that this is a horrible film, very few of them mention how utterly racist the overall experience happens to be. When I use the word racist, I mean that it builds upon the degenerate clichés that African Americans struggle with on a daily basis with our society. While there were elements in this film that seemed like there was some reverse racism occurring, what struck me hardest in the face was how embarrassing Method Man and Redman must be to both the film community, but also to their own culture. I have a very open mind when it comes to social issues as well as films, but this one left my jaw on the floor several times. The blatant swings at African American stereotypes were meant to be a source of humor for director Jesse Dylan, but instead fell flat on their embarrassed face. Humor was in very short supply in this film due to the ethnic stereotype clichés that seemed to be used nearly every second of this film. Nothing was original. Nothing was exciting.

Was the pairing of Redman and Method Man an idea of comedic proportions? I think not. As you can tell from their short lived series after the release of this film, the corporate world wanted to cash in on these two rappers, but soon realized that they were not as bankable as they thought. Why? Method Man and Redman, who completely different people, were nothing more than the same character in this film. With the very subtle hints of Method Man being smarter, nothing could separate the equality of these two characters. That is why they failed as a comic team. Think of Matthau and Lemmon or the above example of Cheech & Chong, what made these teams work while the How High team crashed and burned? What worked the best were the differences that uniquely drew the pair together. Their differences made us laugh and sympathetically brought them together, but with Method Man and Redman, they were the same. I was watching the same two characters fight through the same two challenges in this film. What tried to be funny instead transformed into repetitive. What Dylan did to counter the similarity between Redman/Method Man was bring in obscure secondary characters that added nothing to the flimsy plot or helped us feel emotion for our two main characters. The cliché jock, the cliché frat boy, the cliché Asian (which was again another racist moment), and the cliché rich white boy, just felt and were old. Watch college films from the 70s and you will see these same combinations, but what makes the films from the 70s different is that they used them with originality. How High, from beginning to end, was anything but original.

I must admit, after watching this film of which Harvard was willing to loan their name to, I don't want to go to Harvard. They should have pondered the effects this film would have upon their prestige heritage. How High is a dark spot in Harvard's history. Do you know what makes it even worse? This film wasn't even created at or anywhere near Harvard. Again, Dylan was cutting corners to create a false sense of realism that continued to hurt this film. How High has no redeeming qualities. Ooops, I stand corrected. The only smile that was ever created on my face during this film was when Spalding Gray spoke. How did they get him and Fred Willard to do this film? I have said it once, I will say it again, some actors just need their bills paid. Inconsistency, incompetence, and aggravation seemed to be the hidden themes of this dud. What destroyed this film further is that if you take the actors away and look at the story in general, it is nothing. There is no original story at all with How High. Going to college, working for your grades, winning over the heart of the President right at the last minute – this was nothing short of a "cut and paste" film that had no backbone and horrid acting!

I do not like Jesse Dylan's style of directing. While I think Kicking and Screaming is his prized film (due greatly to Will Ferrell), all of his films seem to be extremely choppy with the editing and are randomly interjected with an overdose of unnecessary scenes. The John Adams scene in How High is a prime example. The Benjamin Franklin moments is another. The unconcluded "Truth Serum" can be considered another. How High was just scene after scene of inconsistency. Lumpy oatmeal would win first place before this film would ever be congratulated! I blame a majority of the issues with this film on Jesse Dylan. If he would have tightened the script, created unique and "cult-like" characters, and eliminated the racism, he may have had the quintessential "weed" film in Hollywood.

Overall, this was one of the worst films that I have witnessed. Never have I been so emotionally charged about the racist moments in this film as I have with How High. The actors, all around, were horrible. The story had no legs to stand on and it became very obvious after the opening credits that unless you were either 10 to 15 years of age, this film would never be considered a comedy. Nothing was funny. Nothing will make you laugh. The only part worth enjoying in this film is the ending credits. The ending credits give you a chance to walk away and forget this part of your cinematic life.

Grade: * out of *****

Redman and Method Man star in this comedy except they ain't doing nothing funny expect acting all Hollywood. All the laughs need to come from the white B-actors all around in this movie who make funny faces, do funny dances, try to rap but can't and act like they are stoned.

The basic premise is rather cool (when they start to smoke their old buddy he reappears as a ghost) but this whole thing is lost througout the movie when the whole thing is about.... nothing, I guess.

If you really want to see a gross-out comedy that is bad, catch SCARY MOVIE 2, it's better than this. And if you want a hip-hop comedy, Chris Rock's CB-4 is still good.

...this movie is not. I'm actually watching this movie right now, a painful scene where a Harvard university student's bicycle is stolen and smashed by our nice stars, Jamal & Silas.

The movie kicks off with a load of racial stereo types jokes, the obnoxious rich white kids in the rowing team, the "down with it" stoner characters.

But I digress, this is obviously a stoner flick, if you're after a high school comedy try... well just about anything else. If like stoner movies and you want to spend an hour and a half watching two rappers harassing the annoying Bart, while flirting with every chick on the campus, then this will sit well with your expectations.

If you like movies with true humour, which don't make you feel dumber after watching it, then you would be well advised to avoid this movie. I could back up my view that this is a bad movie, but that would require me sitting through more of this "Police Academy on Pot" movie. (switches movie off).

I have seen this movie long time ago (back in 2001)... It was the dumbest comedy with African Americans ghettoist ever. The jokes are simple and plain, the plot is for the kids (actually not - if you don't want your children to start taking' medicines), and the actors are disappointing (from my perspective).

Two black males are going to a famous University. There they start to make fun of all the people (especially "crackers" and Asians). I don't even remember how the movie ends... I guess one of the black students is falling in love with the daughter of the president... Don't Know.

Don't watch the movie if your IQ is higher than 100.

Method Man and Redman are two of my favourite rappers, they are class A entertainers, no matter if it's on audio or on screen. they are REALLY funny. Now I'm not saying that they are superb actors or that they deserve an Oscar or anything like that, but they know how to act.

How High is a funny stoner/hip hop flick about two guys who meet and go to college together, it's really hilarious, the jokes are simple but very humorous. Sure there's a lot of "unneccesary" profanity in this movie but it works like a charm. The plot although fairly generic is good, this movie really stands out, it's easily one of the best stoner flicks ever and is on up there with Cheech & Chong

Redman, Method Man, hiphop, marijuana. Can it get better?

This movie does nothing but reinforce the stereotype that urban blacks are just sex crazed weed smoking bums expecting a free ride for everything in life. Its not even funny and the two main stars are pathetic actors anyways. If african americans want to change their image and stereotype(proved true so many times) and not be generalised like they are then movies like this arent a good way to start.

"How High" tells of two ghetto blacks (the African American equivalent of Cheech & Chong) who smoke a friend (literally) which gets them into Harvard where they...um, do stuff. A classy presentation with considerable less classy humor, this flick has a much more clever premise than plot and plot than story. Okay stuff for those into raunchy outrageousness which crosses the black/white divide.

Note - The DVD I watched had no closed captioning but did have subtitles were all over the screen and so large they must have been intended for the visually impaired.

Making a comedy based around pot-smoking, for an appropriate audience that certainly doesn't want to have to concentrate too much, should not usually pose much of a problem for film-makers. But for the producers of this movie they sure have proved that this was a challenge they were willing to not only take on and accept, but then monumentally lose at.

Production-value wise it comes across as a quite polished and adequately accomplished piece, mostly on the whole. The only problem being, and it's a biggy.... is that the predicaments, scenes, and jokes just aren't all that funny. And that is even though they are unquestionably coming from the almost bottomless source-material pit known as "base-humour". Having seen the fantastic "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and the absolutely superb and unmatched "Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" i know how good African-American base-humour comedies can be. In fact, Juice in the Hood is easily one of the best comedies i have ever seen. But this movie pales into absolute insignificance when compared to the non-stop bellylaugh quality humour of either of those. And therefore, with such high expectations, it only added to my eventual disappointment when i watched this film of mostly monotonous and largely childish fodder. Terrible!

How High is an brutal movie with an extremely stupid storyline a lot of really bad jokes,there was no part in this stupid comedy that made me laugh.Going into this movie I didn't really think it was going to be good,but it was even worse than I thought.I only watched it because me and my friend both have Netflix and he said I should check this out,I really don't understand how he liked it.When I was looking at the opening credits,I knew none of the cast,apart from Fred Willard,but I don't like him,but then I saw that Danny DeVito was a producer,so then I thought it myth not be that bad,but it was terrible.I hope he got paid well for being part of this disaster.This movie is stupid,not funny,a big depressing,and at times very racist,I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.One of my least favourite movies ever.

Two potheads trying to get into Harvard smoke the ashes of their dead friend which makes them very intelligent.

This movie ultimately could be one of the worst movies of all time.

From the beginning to the end it is a collection of bad jokes, bad acting, and bad script. Just thinking about this movie makes me wonder why these two rappers would even be considered to act. Stick to the

microphone!!!!!!

I was told this movie was hilarious, I need to slap my buddy who recommended it. I turned it off half way through it was so sorry. pretty generic attempt at making a weed classic. It was more annoying than anything, totally sucked. Redman and Methodman definitely have no comedic abilities, no charisma. Anyone looking for a funny movie in this vein try The Wash or one of the Friday movies. How did Fred Willard end up in this boring crap hes the bomb. This movie might be funny to a high school burnout because they're getting blunted all the time. To someone who has seen a lot of good movies this blows.This movie is lame.