Movie Review: Half Baked (1998)

If ever there were a movie that I considered a "guilty pleasure" this would be the flick. Half Baked is a 1998 comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, Guillermo Diaz, and is directed by Tamra Davis. The movie focuses on four stoners who have to bail one of their own out of prison, after he feeds a diabetic horse food and kills it. To make it that much worse, the horse belongs to a cop. Now just writing the premise of this movie makes me start laughing. The movie's plot is extremely unrealistic and very far-fetched for what could have been a really interesting character-driven movie about the effects of marijuana. That combined with comedic elements could have made the movie really great. However, the movie is a fast-paced, psychedelic (sort of), and seemingly original work that is actually really entertaining. Now this is not a great movie, but it's the sort that makes you laugh, and also makes you wonder how this script got started. To start with the positives, this film is very funny. I laughed out loud multiple times within the first ten minutes. It's humor combined with it's quirkiness (and randomness) make it very enjoyable and comedic. The other thing that works with this movie is the relationship that Chappelle's character faces with a young female (Rachel True). From the get go in this movie, the first opening caption names an unspecified location anywhere in the United States.....this should make people really confused, as it does for me. Movies that don't give a location are usually to convey a meaning and a purpose. Typically, a director will hack off the location part to make a point. Half Baked doesn't do that. In fact, the vague opening title makes the audience feel as though the director put no effort into this project whatsoever. As far as the movie itself goes, I also need to mention the randomness of this film. This flick is extremely polluted with scenes and dialogue that don't even push the story forward. To give you an idea, there is an entire scene devoted to a Rottweiler using cocaine. While it does have something to do with the story, the scene feels out of place. That's the biggest problem with this movie: it's very uneven. Despite the fact that I enjoy it, the beginning being great and then the so-so middle, and then there's the purposely corny skirmish in the drug dealers house (in the style of 1960s Batman episodes). Despite the obvious flaws,  I still did enjoy this movie and will definitely go back to re watch it, making it my first real guilty pleasure movie. Overall, Half Baked is an entertaining and funny comedy film, but it's uneven nature and poor acting might make it a turn off to some viewers. 1.5 stars.