| How High | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jesse Dylan |
| Written by | Dustin Abraham |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Francis Kenny |
| Edited by | Larry Bock |
| Music by | Rockwilder |
Production companies | Jersey Films Native Pictures |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12–20 million[1][2] |
| Box office | $31.3 million[2] |
How High is a 2001 Americanstonercomedy film starringMethod Man andRedman, written byDustin Lee Abraham, and directorJesse Dylan's debutfeature film.
In the film, Redman and Method Man portray twocannabis users who are visited by the ghost of a deceased friend after smoking his ashes. The ghost helps with their exams, and they receive scholarships toHarvard University. The film was released byUniversal Pictures on December 21, 2001, and received generally negative reviews from critics.[3][4]
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Two underachievingpotheads, Silas (Method Man) and Jamal (Redman) are visited by the ghost of Silas's recent deceased friend Ivory (Chuck Deezy). Ivory was cremated and Silas used his ashes asfertilizer for a new batch ofmarijuana. While sitting in the parking lot before taking their "THC" (Testing for Higher Credentials, a parody of theSAT and an allusion totetrahydrocannabinol) exams for college, Silas has his marijuana but no cigar while Jamal has a cigar but nothing left to smoke, leading them to team up in Silas's car.
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 results. Several dubious colleges offer the pairscholarships, but none of them are appealing. Eventually, Chancellor Huntley (Fred Willard), under pressure to increase minority admissions, persuades them to go toHarvard University.
Once there, they meet Bart (Chris Elwood), captain of therowing team, his girlfriend Lauren (Lark Voorhies), I Need Money (Al Shearer), and their roommates Jeffrey (Justin Urich) and 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 minimumgrade point average of 2.0 in order to remain, or else faceexpulsion.
Jamal joins the rowing team hoping to outrank Bart. Silas enrolls in abotany class to develop his"herbal" skills, and they both enroll inblack history. Throughout the semester, they pass every test with the help of Ivory. Silas continues to woo and study with Lauren, while Jamal dates theU.S. vice president's (Jeffrey Jones) daughter Jamie (Essence Atkins).
Also during the first half of thesemester, they pull pranks and steal, which angers Bart, Jeffrey (who is pledging for aFinal Club), and Dean Cain. Things go downhill after Silas and Jamal's raucousHalloween 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 atruth 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. His experiment fails numerous times. Beforemidterms Jamal suggests they go to a graveyard, dig up a "smart dead guy", and smoke his remains which they attempted to do so withJohn Quincy Adams. Whereas Silas suggests simply that they study hard for a few hours a day whilehigh. 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. Due to Gerald's abuse of the plant very little remains and Jamal and Silas continue to fail their classes, which pleases 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 HarvardAlumni 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 ofBenjamin Franklin's artifacts, she shocks everyone with her discovery: the artifacts turn out to be abong. Ivory even shows up with Benjamin Franklin to confirm the bong's authenticity. 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 with anaxe in anger. He is eventually apprehended bySecret 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 "can't satisfy her".
How High collected $7.1 million during its opening weekend, ranking in fifth place at the box office belowThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,Ocean's Eleven,Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius andVanilla Sky.[5]
Onreview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,How High has an approval rating of 25% based on 59 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "How High is a sloppily constructed stoner movie filled with lame, vulgar jokes."[3] OnMetacritic, the film received a score of 29 based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[4]
Mike Clark ofUSA Today gave the film two and a half stars out of four. He concluded that it did not have enough material "to sustain its 91 minutes" but did have enough "low-grade laughs" for its target audience.[6]
Writing for theSan Francisco Chronicle, Bob Graham noted that "It looks like a movie somebody hallucinated and put up on the screen". He praised some humorous scenes such as the exhumation of John Quincy Adams, but criticized an abrupt ending.[7]
Entertainment Weekly rated it third in their "Best Stoner Movie" top ten list.[8] It also won theStony Award for Best Stoner Movie in 2002.[9]
How High was released onDVD andVHS on May 21, 2002.[10]
In May 2002, a sequel toHow High was reported as being written by Don D. Scott (the co-writer ofBarbershop), with Method Man and Redman reprising their roles.[11]
In October 2008, Redman revealed that a script for the sequel was still in the middle of being written, stating that "we wanna represent all the smokers", believing that sinceHow High, no one has done justice on a stoner film.[12] In April 2009, it was reported that Redman blamedUniversal Pictures for the film's 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 aHow High 2."[13]
In December 2010, Redman confirmed that Universal Pictures was indeed holding the rights toHow High, so the chances ofHow High 2 coming out were slim.[14] In April 2013, Method Man toldTMZ that the script was being written by Dustin Lee Abraham, who wrote the first one, but it all would depend on Universal if the film would happen.[15] In November 2015, Redman statedHow High 2 would be released in 2017.[16]
In 2017, there was a written script, confirmed by Matt "M-80" Markoff.[17] Redman stated that the script was being rewritten, and he expected production to begin late 2017, early 2018; he also stated he and Method Man could move on to something other than the sequel. The two men confirmed they would not reprise their roles in the sequel because "the business wasn't right".[18]
The sequel was greenlit byMTV and Universal 1440 Entertainment in June 2018. The film takes place inAtlanta and production began September 25, 2018, starringLil' Yachty andD.C. Young Fly. MTV announcedHow High 2 would premiere onApril 20, 2019, with Mike Epps reprising his role as Baby Powder.[19]
