''Half Baked'' is a 1998 American
stoner comedy film starring
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
,
Jim Breuer
James E. Breuer (born June 21, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, and radio host. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 1998 and starred in the film ''Half Baked'' (1998).
Early life
Breuer was born i ...
,
Harland Williams, and
Guillermo Díaz. The film was directed by
Tamra Davis, co-written by Chappelle and
Neal Brennan and produced by
Robert Simonds
Robert Bruce Simonds Jr. (born 1964) is an American film producer, entrepreneur, and the founder & chairman of STX Entertainment, which creates, produces, distributes, finances, and markets film (as STXfilms), television (as STXtelevision), digi ...
. The film received negative reviews but has since become a
cult film
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...
.
Plot
Four lifelong stoners and friends (Thurgood, Scarface, Brian, and Kenny) live together in New York City. Thurgood, a janitor at a medical lab, orders some
weed 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 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 wear a 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 of
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...
. 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.
Cast
*
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...
as Thurgood Jenkins/Sir Smoke-a-Lot
** Kevin Duhaney as Young Thurgood
*
Jim Breuer
James E. Breuer (born June 21, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, and radio host. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 1998 and starred in the film ''Half Baked'' (1998).
Early life
Breuer was born i ...
as Brian
** James Cooper as Young Brian
*
Harland Williams as Kenny Davis
** Michael Colton as Young Kenny
*
Guillermo Díaz as Scarface
** Matthew Raposo as Young Scarface
*
Rachel True
Rachel India True (born November 15, 1966) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in such films as '' The Craft'' (1996), '' Nowhere'' (1997), and ''Half Baked'' (1998). True is also known for her role as Mona Thorne on the UPN ...
as Mary Jane Potman
*
Tommy Chong as Squirrel Master
*
Clarence Williams III as Samson Simpson
*
Laura Silverman
Laura Jane Silverman (born June 10, 1966) is an American actress and the older sister of actress and comedian Sarah Silverman. She acted in '' Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic'' and ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' portraying a fictionalized versi ...
as Jan
*
R. D. Reid as Scientist
*
Gregg Rogell
Gregg Rogell (born February 18, 1967) is an American professional comedian. Born on Long Island, Rogell resides in New York City and is a regular performer at the Comedy Cellar. He has appeared on ''The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien' ...
and
Kevin Brennan as Potheads
Co-writer
Neal Brennan appears as an employee, while cameos include
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...
as the enhancement smoker,
Snoop Doggy Dogg as the scavenger smoker,
Stephen Baldwin as the MacGyver smoker,
Gladys O'Connor
Gladys O'Connor (28 November 1903 – 21 February 2012) was a British-born Canadian character actress. Born in London, O'Connor moved with her family to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1912, eventually settling in Toronto.
After several decades ...
as the grandma smoker,
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...
as the historian smoker, and
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for his television work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1996–2003) and for his role as Tracy Jordan in the sitcom ''30 Rock'' (2006 ...
as the V. J.
Steven Wright
Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jok ...
makes an uncredited appearance, as do
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Marie Garofalo ( ; born September 28, 1964) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on the now-defunct Air America Radio's ''The Majority Report''.
Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on ...
and
Bob Saget.
Production
Chappelle and Breuer shared a manager and had previously planned working together on the short-lived sitcom ''
Buddies''. 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.
The movie was filmed in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
in the summer of 1997. ''
Dirty Work'' was filming at the same time, and the cast and crew stayed in the same hotel.
Bob Saget, who directed ''Dirty Work'', filmed a short, uncredited cameo for ''Half Baked''.
Chappelle asked
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
to do a cameo in the film but he declined.
Release
Box office
''Half Baked'' hit theaters in the United States on January 16, 1998, earning $7,722,540 in its opening weekend, ranking at No. 6, and, by the end of its run, grossed $17,460,020.
Critical response
''Half Baked'' received generally negative reviews from critics. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, it has an approval rating of 29%, based on reviews from 24 critics. The website's consensus reads, "You'd have to be high to dig ''Half Baked''s half baked production and scattershot sense of humor -- although maybe that was the point of this Dave Chapelle-led joint." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film received a score of 16 out of 100 from critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
Brendan Kelly of ''
Variety'' wrote: "A couple of hash brownies short of a satisfying cinematic picnic, with far too few comic highs during the bigscreen reefer party."
It has had several re-releases on DVD and is considered a cult classic.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Half Baked
1998 films
1990s buddy comedy films
American buddy comedy films
1990s English-language films
Films directed by Tamra Davis
Films produced by Robert Simonds
American films about cannabis
Films set in New York City
Universal Pictures films
1998 in cannabis
Stoner films
1998 comedy films
1990s American films
Dave Chappelle