Stoner movies have made a market of their own beginning in the 1970s, when the original stoner flick hit the big screen. Over time the 1978 pot-loving film Up in Smoke has transitioned from a weeded-up memory to one of High Times' classic weed movies. Have you heard of Cheech and Chong, man? These red-eyed actors paved the way for a steady release of stoner films that no hippie could refuse—not even your mom.
As marijuana has become more accepted and mainstream, more brainless stoner comedies have hit the scene. Just when we thought James Franco couldn’t outshine himself as the quintessential pothead in Pineapple Express, he made a comeback in 2013's This is the End. After getting super high, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel hit up an eccentric James Franco house party, where Seth struggles to merge his old and new friends as the world goes to complete shit. An enormous hell hole swallows most of the party, leaving the survivors to fight over weed, a Milky Way, and who’s allowed to jizz in Franco’s place.
For more of a throwback, Harold & Kumar’s weed trilogy remains a “must smoke and see.” Just be warned, there’s equally as much 3D penis as there is cannabis in the most recent installment, 2011's A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. And speaking of blazing series', as of June 2018, Ice Cubeis finishing the script for Last Friday, the fourth film in the Friday franchise. If you want even more of a hip-hop flavor to your stoner movie watch, Redman and Method Man become hip-hop Cheech & Chong in their blazed classic How High. Bring on the blunts.
So if you have the time (because who are you kidding, you have the time), get your munchies ready and watch through these all-time best stoner movies.
Stoner movies have made a market of their own beginning in the 1970s, when the original stoner flick hit the big screen. Over time the 1978 pot-loving film Up in Smoke has transitioned from a weeded-up memory to one of High Times' classic weed movies. Have you heard of Cheech and Chong, man? These red-eyed actors paved the way for a steady release of stoner films that no hippie could refuse—not even your mom.
As marijuana has become more accepted and mainstream, more brainless stoner comedies have hit the scene. Just when we thought James Franco couldn’t outshine himself as the quintessential pothead in Pineapple Express, he made a comeback in 2013's This is the End. After getting super high, Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel hit up an eccentric James Franco house party, where Seth struggles to merge his old and new friends as the world goes to complete shit. An enormous hell hole swallows most of the party, leaving the survivors to fight over weed, a Milky Way, and who’s allowed to jizz in Franco’s place.
For more of a throwback, Harold & Kumar’s weed trilogy remains a “must smoke and see.” Just be warned, there’s equally as much 3D penis as there is cannabis in the most recent installment, 2011's A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. And speaking of blazing series', as of June 2018, Ice Cubeis finishing the script for Last Friday, the fourth film in the Friday franchise. If you want even more of a hip-hop flavor to your stoner movie watch, Redman and Method Man become hip-hop Cheech & Chong in their blazed classic How High. Bring on the blunts.
So if you have the time (because who are you kidding, you have the time), get your munchies ready and watch through these all-time best stoner movies.
Soul Plane (2004)
Director: Jessy Terrero
Starring: Snoop Dogg, Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart, Method Man, Mo’Nique, Brian Hooks, Arielle Kebbel
Stonedest Line: “Testicles, one-two. Testicles, one-two.”
While Soul Plane, like several other entires on this list, was initially met with negative reviews upon its release way back in 2004, the film has enjoyed a second life as an arguable stoner classic in the years since. Notably, the Snoop Dogg and Tom Arnold-led comedy stands as an early entry in Kevin Hart’s since-expanded filmography and arrived the same year as his turn in Along Came Polly.
Smiley Face (2007)
Director: Gregg Araki
Starring: Anna Faris, Adam Brody, Roscoe Lee Browne, John Krasinski, Danny Masterson, Jane Lynch
Stonedest Line: “People would be all like, ‘Jane, why do you have a photo of President Garfield on your mantle?’ And I’d be like, ‘Because I like lasagna, of course.’”
In the Gregg Araki-helmed and aptly named Smiley Face, Anna Faris leads the cast as a young actress by the name of Jane F, who—as the above trailer should make clear—very much enjoys partaking in matters of weed. Unlike some entries in the extended stoner canon, Smiley Face was met with strong reviews upon its release in 2007. Notably, the comedy also marks the final film credit for the late Roscoe Lee Browne, who provides narration for Jane F’s misadventures.
Friday After Next (2002)
Director: Marcus Raboy
Starring: Ice Cube, Mike Epps, John Witherspoon, Don “D.C.” Curry, Anna Maria Horsford, Katt Williams
Stonedest Line: “All I want, Santa Claus, is two fat bitches and a bag of weed and two bags of chips to give to the fat bitches.”
Serving as the final installment of the initial Friday trilogy, which kicked off in 1995 with the Ice Cube and Chris Tucker-led original and was continued in 2000 with Next Friday, Friday After Next finds Cube’s character Craig working as a security guard after his apartment with Epps’ character Day-Day gets robbed. The robbery in question occurs on Christmas Eve, making Friday After Next a holiday comedy of sorts. In the years since the comedy’s release, talk has continued about the possibility of the film franchise being revived.
Friday (1995)
Director: F. Gary Gray
Starring: Ice Cube, Chris Tucker, Nia Long, Tom Lister Jr., John Witherspoon
Stonedest Line: "I know you don't smoke weed, I know this, but I'm gonna get you high today, 'cause it's Friday, you ain't got no job, and you ain't got shit to do."
In the early '90s, Ice Cube could do no wrong. In between making gangsta-ass albums he found time to co-write and co-star in this hood-to-suburbs classic. Friday isn't really about its plot, it's about the characters in the neighborhood: crackhead Ezal, trifling-ass Pastor Clever (Bernie Mac, R.I.P.), or legendary bully Deebo. Plus, we could quote the film for days, which leads us to wonder: Is Chris Tucker an ad-libbing expert or are DJ Pooh and Ice Cube screenwriting geniuses?
Cheech And Chong's Next Movie (1980)
Director: Tommy Chong
Starring: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Evelyn Guerrero, Edie McClurg, Paul Reubens
Stonedest Line: "Responsibility is a heavy responsibility!"
Stereotypical Mexican-American stoner + stereotypical American stoner x weed jokes, ball jokes, non sequiturs, and a couple songs = FTW.
How High (2001)
Director: Jesse Dylan
Starring: Method Man, Redman, Obba Babatundé, Lark Voorhies, Mike Epps
Stonedest Line: "I figure if I study high, take the test high, get high scores!"
Method Man and Redman parlayed their fame as blunt-smoking rappers into this awful-ly entertaining laugher about two smokers who go to Harvard and blaze the place after acing their college entrance exams with the help of a nerdy friend. "That's too much plot," you might be thinking in your reefer-fueled haze.
Rest assured, though, bake-offs—How High has little on its exposition-ist mind other than weed jokes, hot chicks who also love weed, and clowning dudes from various races who look goofy while overly indulging in weed. Bet you're not saying, "That's too much weed," are you?
Super High Me (2007)
Director: Michael Blieden
Starring: Doug Benson
Stonedest Line: "I'm gonna smoke pot everyday for 30 days—try to remember to film it—and my movie is going to be called Super High Me or Business As Usual; I haven't decided yet."
Super High Me follows one stoner, comedian Doug Benson, on his journey of 30 days of sobriety followed by 30 days of smoking all day, everyday. He undergoes "before and after" tests that range from SATs to psychic ability. Pfft! All that Super Size Me guy did was make us feel bad for eating junk food at an American institution, GTFOH!
Billy Madison (1995)
Director: Tamra Davis
Starring: Adam Sandler, Bradley Whitford, Josh Mostel, Bridgette Wilson, Norm Macdonald, Darren McGavin
Stonedest Line: "Is that it, dad? Did the penguin tell you to do this?"
Adam Sandler is at his simple-minded best playing Billy, an aimless, developmentally stunted 27-year-old rich kid who has to pass elementary, junior high, and high school in order to keep control of his dad's business from his smarmy nemesis. Big man in a little seat—HA! Hey, simple is good, especially after five bong rips.
Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)
Director: Danny Leiner
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Seann William Scott, Kristy Swanson, Jennifer Garner, Marla Sokoloff
Stonedest Line: "Wait a second, let's recap. Last night, we lost my car, we accepted stolen money from a transsexual stripper, and now some space nerds want us to find something we can't pronounce. I hate to say it, Chester, but maybe we need to cut back on the shibbying."
Think of Dude, Where's My Car? as the slightly less funny, stoner forefather to The Hangover. Except instead of losing their best friend, Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott lose Kutcher's car and get the dumbest tattoos possible while trippin' out on their wild night. It just goes to show, drugs will make you do dumb shit—and make even dumber movies.
TED (2012)
Director: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Joel McHale, Giovanni Ribisi
Stonedest Line: “I've found my car keys. What's going on? Is that a shit?”
Seth MacFarlane, director of Family Guy, creates the ultimate unrealistic stoner film featuring a profane, bong hitting teddy bear “Ted.” Best friend John Bennett, played by Mark Wahlberg is continually dragged down by his derelict bear, which pisses off his girlfriend Lori Collins, played by Mila Kunis. The interchange between the two Bostonian-accented characters is offensively hysterical.
Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Eliza Dushku, Shannon Elizabeth, Will Ferrell, Ali Larter, Jason Lee, Chris Rock, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith
Stonedest Line: "No, you're misunderstanding me, Prince Valiant. I'm saying, if you were a sheep, would you fuck a sheep, if you were another sheep?"
We're not sure if Kevin Smith's feature-length flick about two slacker friends is any good, because every time we've seen it, it was through a haze of some premium kush. But even if the plot is barely strung together, it's worth watching just for Ben Affleck's cameo. Damn, we just said the best part of a movie was a Ben Affleck cameo. We must still be baked.
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)
Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Neil Patrick Harris, Danneel Harris, Paula Garcés, Danny Trejo, Amir Blumenfeld, Thomas Lennon
Stonedest Line: “I shot Santa Claus in the face. He's real, and I shot him in the face.”
What’s the cleverest way for Harold & Kumar franchise creators, and screenwriters, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg to marry weed with Yuletide cheer? By having Santa Claus bless the fellas with a blunt the size of a Shake Weight, of course. It’s that kind of sophomoric wit that makes A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas the best stoner comedy in years, in addition to the most ridiculously hilarious uses of 3D technology this side of Piranha 3D.
This is the End (2013)
Director: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Starring: James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera, Emma Watson
Stonedest Line: “Hey, does this coke smell funny?”
This is the End is a flick about a bunch of baked, self-righteous actors who play “themselves.” The end of the world plot includes Craig Robinson singing “take your panties off” alongside Rihanna, Kevin Hart kicking Aziz Azari down a fiery pit of death, and a disturbing yet comical exorcism of Jonah Hill.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
Director: Amy Heckerling
Starring: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Brian Backer, Robert Romanus, Ray Walston
Stonedest Line: "All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine."
Viewers both past and present were sprung off of Phoebe Cates and that teeny red bikini. You could even say that she made them, yes, high—almost as high as Jeff Spicolo (Sean Penn) is on a daily basis. In a raunchy teen comedy full of memorable characters, perennially baked surfer dude Spicoli is the funnyman all-star, even if he’s a teacher’s worst nightmare (word to Mr. Hand).
Super Troopers (2001)
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Starring: Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter, Erik Stolhanske, Brian Cox, Marisa Coughlan
Stonedest Line: "The Snozzberries taste like Snozzberries."
If you're ever driving through rural Vermont on your way to Canada, you better hide that stash. Broken Lizard's hilarious highway patrolmen spend the entire movie chasing down cartoon monkey drug dealers, getting into brawls with local cops, and messing with stoners' heads just for kicks. Or really anybody's head right about meow.
Don't Be A Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood
Director: Paris Barclay
Starring: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Bernie Mac, Suli McCullough, Helen Martin, Chris Spencer, Antonio Fargas, Vivica A. Fox, Keenen Ivory Wayans, LaWanda Page
Stonedest Line: "Well, I see your hobbies include 'drinkin', smokin' weed, and all kinds of ill shit.'"
This is a parody of every classic hood flick released from 1985 to 1995. That means Juice, Jungle Fever, South Central, Higher Learning, Do The Right Thing, Menace II Society, Poetic Justice, New Jack City, Dead Presidents, and most prominently Boyz N The Hood. The main character, Ashtray, has a father who's younger than him, and falls in love with a woman, Daishiki, who has seven kids with seven different fathers. MESSAGE!: The Wayans Bros. are, in fact, pretty fucking funny.
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro
Stonedest Line: "We had two bags of grass, 75 pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers. Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can."
Even if you're more into smoking green than, say, huffing ether, Hunter S. Thompson's epic adventure of drug-induced insanity is pure mind-bending eye candy for the stoner. Pop it in and remember a time when "gonzo" meant something other than a genre of pornography.
PCU (1994)
Director: Hart Bochner
Starring: Jeremy Piven, Chris Young, David Spade, Megan Ward, Sarah Trigger, Jessica Walter
Stonedest Line: "Can you blow me where the pampers is?"
A house of hard partying collegians led by Jeremy Piven takes on the evils of political correctness at Port Chester University and tries to help the hardcore feminists, tree huggers, commies, and everyone else on campus cool the fuck out and have some fun. It's everything you would love to do at your uptight office if HR weren't already breathing down your neck.
Pineapple Express (2008)
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Danny McBride
Stonedest Line: "This is like if that Blue Oyster shit met that Afghan Kush I had—and they had a baby. And then, meanwhile, that crazy Northern Light stuff I had and the Super Red Espresso Snowflake met and had a baby. And by some miracle, those two babies met and fucked—this would the shit that they birthed."
A disenchanted process server, Dale (Seth Rogen), becomes reluctant friends with his weed dealer, Saul (James Franco), when they witness a murder at the hand of Saul's supplier. Of course, being the stoners that they are, they blow up their own spot by leaving a joint of the mega rare strain of cannabis known as Pineapple Express at the scene of the crime. There are some ninjas, Rosie Perez, a Daewoo Lanos, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride, and you're salty the whole time that you will never get to puff anything that can be equated to "God's vagina."
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, John Turturro
Stonedest Line: "I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing."
An aging hippie spends his days smoking joints, drinking white Russians, and bowling, all without apparently holding down any kind of job. It's a dream life—until some goons break into his pad and pee on his rug. It may be the perfect movie to watch high, since the plot doesn't entirely make sense even when you're sober.
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Director: David Wain
Starring: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Michael Showalter
Stonedest Line: "If you wanna smear mud on your ass, smear mud on your ass—just be honest about it. Look, Gene, I've never told anyone this before, but I can suck my own dick, and I do it a lot."
Summer camp x The State = comedy gold. Comedy gold x Acapulco Gold = comedy PLATINUM. It's just math, people. Try it sometime.
Grandma's Boy (2006)
Director: Nicholaus Goossen
Starring: Linda Cardellini, Allen Covert, Nick Swardson, Doris Roberts, Shirley Jones, Shirley Knight
Stonedest Line: "I can't believe you came on my mom!"
Video games, an insane amount of weed, and a borderline freakshow genius who calls people "turd nuggets." Oh, and sex with old ladies. Yeah, they brought that back.
Mallrats (1995)
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Renee Humphrey, Jason Mewes, Ethan Suplee, Kevin Smith, Priscilla Barnes, Michael Rooker
Stonedest Line: "What you need is a fatty-boom-batty blunt, and I guarantee you'll be seeing a sailboat, an ocean, and maybe even some of those big-titted mermaids doing some of that lesbian shit."
Two derelict, dorky, comic and Sega-loving besties get dumped by their infinitely hotter girlfriends (played by a then still fuckwithable Shannen Doherty and Claire Forlani) on the same day and they seek solace in the local mall. Yeah, but for the weed heads, Jay and Silent Bob, Stan Lee, the Easter Bunny, an aromatic taint-smeared handshake, and a 3D Magic Eye poster also make appearances. Snoochie boochie!
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)
Director: Danny Leiner
Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn, Paula Garcés, Neil Patrick Harris, Anthony Anderson, Fred Willard, Boyd Banks
Stonedest Line: "You guys might have wanted to stay away from our special sauce tonight. Me and Pookie, we added a secret ingredient. I'll give you a hint. It's semen."
When you're in that post-college, pre-career purgatory, there's nothing better on a Friday night than getting high and going out for a sack of sliders. Unless, of course, you run into Neil Patrick Harris, get attacked by raccoons, and wind up in a New Jersey jail. Now that'll make you want to become a doctor.
Dazed And Confused (1993)
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Ben Affleck, Wiley Wiggins, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Rory Cochrane, Joey Lauren Adams, Marissa Ribisi, Cole Hauser,
Stonedest Line: "The older you get, the more rules they are going to try and get you to follow. You just gotta keep on livin', man. L-I-V-I-N."
A classic comedy, a classic school flick, and most assuredly a classic stoner movie. The last day of school in 1976 means hazing, hot girls, beer-drinking, and lots and lots of weed-smoking. Sometimes we forget we ever graduated.
Scary Movie (2000)
Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans
Starring: Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Dave Sheridan, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans
Stonedest Line: "Cindy, they shot me in the lungs. [Inhale's from hole in chest.] You wanna hit this shit?"
Before the Wayans fell completely out of touch with comedy, they made awesome films like Scary Movie. Damsels in distress, Matrix-esque fight scenes, spoofs galore, and Marlon's moronic cheeba head Shorty all add up to a win. But generally speaking, we don't condone you putting (Wayans) Bros. before hos.
Up In Smoke (1978)
Director: Lou Adler
Starring: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Strother Martin, Edie Adams, Stacy Keach
Stonedest Line: "You mean we're smokin' dog shit, man?"
Cheech and Chong's classic first movie about a couple of tokers and their misadventures with cops and dog turds is like a big bowl of weed that’s stem-free and bottomless. If you think about it, Up In Smoke is the stoner comedy that every subsequent stoner comedy has tried to emulate, or at least taken heavy inspiration from—though, thinking about shit is pointless when you’re lifted like a dumbbell.
Half Baked (1998)
Director: Tamra Davis
Starring: Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, Guillermo Díaz, Clarence Williams III
Stonedest Line: "I never thought I'd say this to anybody, but you two smoke entirely too much reefer."
A certified classic, in which Dave Chappelle and his motley crew start pumping that diesel to spring their buddy out of jail. We challenge you—nay, defy you—to not laugh at D.C. playing Sir Smoke-A-Lot. Which is exactly why he turned his back on $50 million, you cave beast who enjoys seeing a black man play the buffoon!