Half Baked is a 1998 Americanstoner film starringDave Chappelle,Jim Breuer,Harland Williams, andGuillermo Díaz. The film was directed byTamra Davis, co-written by Chappelle andNeal Brennan and produced byRobert Simonds.Half Baked was released in the United States byUniversal Pictures on January 16, 1998. It received negative reviews and grossed $17.5 million.

Half Baked
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tamra Davis
Written by	Dave Chappelle Neal Brennan
Produced by	Robert Simonds
Starring	Dave Chappelle Jim Breuer Harland Williams Guillermo Díaz Clarence Williams III
Cinematography	Steven Bernstein
Edited by	Don Zimmerman
Music by	Alf Clausen
Production company	Robert Simonds Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	January 16, 1998 (1998-01-16)
Running time	78 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$8 million[2]
Box office	$17.5 million[3]

Four lifelong stoners and friends (Thurgood, Scarface, Brian, and Kenny) live together in New York City. Thurgood, a janitor at a medical lab, orders someweed from Samson, the famous local dealer, and the four smoke it. When Kenny, a gentle kindergarten teacher, is out on a munchie run, he is arrested for accidentally killing a diabetic police horse called Buttercup by feeding it junk food. His friends are forced to raise $1 million to bail him out before the other prisoners take advantage of his gentle nature. While visiting Kenny in prison, Thurgood meets Mary Jane and pursues a romantic relationship, which is strained by his having to conceal his marijuana smoking from her, as she is adamantly anti-drug.

Thurgood gets asked one day by a scientist at the lab to get a pound of cannabis from storage and Thurgood freaks out when he realizes what the scientist had him get. The grateful scientist thanks Thurgood for the good deed by giving him some free weed. Thurgood brings it home and the three friends get high. Scarface gets the idea to have Thurgood steal medical marijuana from his work so that the three of them can sell it to raise money to free Kenny.

When the success of the friends' marijuana business grows enough to raise the ire of local drug lord Samson Simpson, Samson extorts them for $20,000 a week, while Mary Jane dumps Thurgood when she finds out he is dealing drugs. The friends plan a robbery of the medical laboratory to increase their earnings enough to both fend off Samson and free Kenny, but are arrested when they try to execute the plan.

Thurgood strikes a deal with the police to weara wire to a meeting with Samson in exchange for freeing Kenny and dropping the charges against him and his friends. They meet with Samson, but their plan is exposed when the police detectives fail to arrive as backup since they are high. However, Thurgood and his friends are able to take out Samson's henchwomen, and Samson is taken out by the ghost ofJerry Garcia. The police detectives arrive soon after to arrest Samson and his henchwomen, while Thurgood and friends are released from police custody. Thurgood meets with Mary Jane to tell her he is giving up marijuana and wants to get back together. The film ends with their reuniting.

Additionally, co-writerNeal Brennan appears as an employee. Other cameos include:Jon Stewart as the enhancement smoker,Snoop Doggy Dogg as the scavenger smoker,Stephen Baldwin as the MacGyver smoker,Gladys O'Connor as the grandma smoker,Willie Nelson as the historian smoker, andTracy Morgan as the V.J.Steven Wright makes an uncredited appearance, as doJaneane Garofalo andBob Saget.^[4]

Chappelle and Breuer shared a manager and had previously planned working together on the short-lived TV sitcomBuddies. In Spring 1996, both were working separately on marijuana-related film projects. Chappelle and Brennan's script was complete, so Breuer was asked to join their project.^[5]

The film was shot in Toronto in late 1997.^{[citation needed]}Bob Saget, who directedDirty Work, filmed a short, uncredited cameo forHalf Baked.^{[citation needed]}

Chappelle askedHarrison Ford to do a cameo in the film but he declined.^[6]

Half Baked was released theatrically in the United States on January 16, 1998, earning $7,722,540 in its opening weekend, ranking at number six. It went on to gross a total of $17,460,020.^[3]

A direct-to-video sequel,Half Baked: Totally High, was released on April 16, 2024, byUniversal Pictures Home Entertainment on direct-to-video format. The film was directed by Michael Tiddes, and starsDexter Darden,Moses Storm,Ramona Young,David Koechner,Frankie Muniz,Ash Santos, andJoel Courtney.Rachel True reprises her role as Mary Jane whileHarland Williams has a cameo in the boys' bathroom. The project was a joint-venture production betweenUniversal 1440 Entertainment,Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, andSTX Entertainment.

On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 28% of 25 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "You'd have to be high to digHalf Baked's half baked production and scattershot sense of humor -- although maybe that was the point of this Dave Chapelle-led joint."^[7]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 16 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".^[8]

Brendan Kelly ofVariety wrote: "A couple of hash brownies short of a satisfying cinematic picnic, with far too few comic highs during the bigscreen reefer party."^[9] Martin Musgrave of theChicago Sun-Times said: "Half Baked is a stupid comedy that tries to be something better than it is while maintaining awareness of its own stupidity."

• Half Baked atIMDb
• Half Baked at theTCM Movie Database