How High
How High is a 2001 stoner film starring Method Man and Redman, written by Dustin Lee Abraham, and director Jesse Dylan's debut feature film. Entertainment Weekly rated it third in their "Best Stoner Movie" top ten list. The movie also won the Stony Award of 2002 for the Best Stoner Movie, but received generally negative reviews from critics.
Contents
Plot
The plot is centered on two underachieving pot smokers: Silas (Method Man) and Jamal (Redman). When Silas's friend Ivory (Chuck Davis) dies, Silas uses his ashes as fertilizer for a new batch of marijuana. While both are sitting in the parking lot before taking their "THC" (Testing for Higher Credentials, a parody of the SAT in allusion to Tetrahydrocannabinol) exams for college, neither is able to smoke his individual marijuana stash without the help of the other.
They soon discover that smoking Silas's new batch summons the ghost of the recently deceased Ivory, visible to just the two of them. Ivory tells them the test answers as they take the test and they both score perfect scores. Several dubious colleges offer the pair scholarships, but none of them are appealing. Eventually, Chancellor Huntley (Fred Willard) suggests the two apply to Harvard University.
Once there, they meet Bart (Chris Elwood), captain of the rowing team, his girlfriend Lauren (Lark Voorhies), I Need Money (Al Shearer), and their roommates Jeffrey (Justin Urich) & Tuan (Trieu Tran). Once they are settled in, they visit Dean Carl Cain (Obba Babatundé) who tells them that per the terms of their scholarship, they must maintain a minimum grade point average of 2.0 in order to remain at Harvard, or else face expulsion.
Jamal joins the rowing team hoping to outrank Bart, and Silas enrolls in the Botany class to develop his "herbal" skills (as opposed to verbal). They both enroll in black history together, although there are two other classes in which they have enrolled alone. Throughout the first half of the school year, they pass every test with the help of Ivory. Silas continues to woo and study with Lauren, while Jamal dates the U.S. vice president's daughter Jamie (Essence Atkins).
Also during the first half of the semester, they pull pranks and steal, which angers Bart, Jeffrey (who is pledging for a Final Club), and Dean Cain. However, things go downhill after Silas and Jamal's raucous Halloween party. At the party, Gerald (T.J. Thyne), the volunteer officer whose bicycle was stolen and crushed by I Need Money, steals and smokes the Ivory plant, leaving the pair without access to Ivory.
Silas begins working on a truth serum for his Botany class, using plant extracts. Silas concludes that, if his experiment works, he will earn an A in Botany, and a guarantee of a next semester. However, his experiment fails numerous times. Before midterm examinations, Jamal suggests they go to a graveyard, dig up a "smart dead guy", and smoke his remains; Silas suggests simply that they study hard for a few hours a day while high. They try Silas's plan, but it does not pan out, as they end up failing almost all of their midterm exams.
Desperate to stay in Harvard, they try Jamal's plan, but it proves fruitless, as well. Meanwhile, Gerald, who has morphed into a complete stoner, sees Ivory during one of his binges, and, at Ivory's behest, returns the remnants of the Ivory plant to Jamal and Silas. However, because very little remains due to Gerald's abuse of the plant, Jamal and Silas continue to fail their classes (which excites Dean Cain).
With the last final exam approaching, Jamal and Silas resign themselves to give up. However, Jeffrey reminds Silas of his guarantee of another semester if he can successfully fix his truth serum experiment. Silas ultimately does, having found a solution in which the last of Ivory's leaves could be used to counteract nausea.
Nonetheless, because of their low grades, Jamal and Silas do not receive an invitation to the Harvard Alumni party. Dean Cain, clearly thrilled with this result, tells Bart he does not have to worry about the pair showing up or staying in Harvard. However, that changes when Jamie invites them both as her dates, as her father is an alumnus. At the party, Silas makes things a bit more interesting by testing out his truth serum experiment, which proves successful.
At Lauren's presentation at the alumni party of Benjamin Franklin's artifacts, she shocks everyone with her discovery: the artifacts turn out to be a bong. Dean Cain is outraged by this finding, but the Chancellor decides that he has had it with the Dean and fires him. Jamal and Silas are proud that the serum worked, a celebration that was almost short-lived, as Dean Cain returns and unsuccessfully attempts to kill them both. He is eventually apprehended by Secret Service. At the end, Jamal and Silas are able to stay, Jamal and Jamie get approval of Jamie's father to date, and Lauren leaves Bart for Silas because Bart dresses funny.
Cast
- Method Man as Silas P. Silas
- Redman as Jamal King
- Obba Babatundé as Dean Carl Cain
- Melissa Peterman as Sheila Cain
- Mike Epps as Baby Powder
- Anna Maria Horsford as Mamma King
- Fred Willard as Philip "Phil" Huntley
- Jeffery Jones as The Vice President
- Hector Elizondo as Bill the Crew Coach
- Lark Voorhies as Lauren
- Al Shearer as I Need Money
- Chuck Deezy as Ivory
- Essence Atkins as Jamie
- Chris Elwood as Bart
- T.J. Thyne as Gerald
- Trieu Tran as Tuan
- Justin Urich as Jeffrey
- Spalding Gray as Professor Jackson
- Tracy Morgan as Field of Dreams Guy (uncredited)
- Cypress Hill as themselves
- Chuck Liddell as himself in the Party Fight Scene
- Pat Finn as Army Recruiter
- Garrett Morris as canned pork chop commercial pitchman along with Tracy Morgan
- Judah Friedlander as Bicyclist
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews from critics, as it currently holds a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 52 reviews with the consensus stating: "How High is a sloppily constructed stoner movie filled with lame, vulgar jokes." Despite the negative reviews, critics praised the comedic performances of Method Man and Redman. The film has received a strong cult following in the years following its release, due to high DVD sales and repeated showings on cable.
Sequel
In October 2008, Redman announced that the sequel was in the middle of shooting, while pointing out a feeling that "we wanna represent all the smokers", believing that since How High, no one has done justice on a weed smoker's film. In April 2009, it was reported that Redman blames Universal Pictures for the release delay, stating: "They're not opening that money door for us to shoot it. We promoted the shit out of that movie. We got the whole world waiting for a How High 2."
In November 2010, Redman further stated, "Blackout! 3 is coming, Muddy Waters 2 is coming and How High 2 is coming. But remember, Universal owns the rights to How High. They own the names, they own the characters, they own the whole thing. If Red and Meth do a movie, we can't call it How High. Only person that can get us out of that is Keenan Ivory Wayans."
In December 2010, Redman confirmed that Universal Pictures is holding the rights of How High, so the chances of How High 2 coming out are slim. In April 2013, Method Man told TMZ that the script was currently being written by Dustin Lee Abraham who wrote the first one, but it all would depend on Universal if the film will take place.
