Are there any good stoner comedy/roadtrip/adventure movies to come out recently?

[dead-ced-dead]

I was re-watching Harold and Kumar (the first one), and this thought struck me. If this was made today, they'd just get White Castle from Uber Eats.

And a lot of stoner comedies begin with the characters wanting something simple and then spiral out of control. So it occurred to me, that stoner comedies today would have to change structure in order to work, because many of the inciting incidents in stoner movies could be solved with an iphone.

So I wondered if any stoner comedy/adventures had come out recently and how they'd got round that issue without resolving to the old horror movie cliche of "My phone's dead"/"No signal" etc.

[Blumf]

I was re-watching Harold and Kumar (the first one), and this thought struck me. If this was made today, they'd just get White Castle from Uber Eats.

Dude, Where's My Lyft?

[dead-ced-dead]

Dude, Where's My Lyft?

Well, exactly. The fundamental DNA of stoner movies is that their want is simple (get White Castle - Harold and Kumar, pay their dealer - Smiley Face). Both scenerios would be easily sovled today without leaving the sofa.

The Big Lebowski and Inherent Vice are both period pieces, so that's one fix. I'm just wondering if it's possible to make a great stoner comedy that's not a period piece.

Jay and Silent Bob Stroke Back is more ambitious in that they're trying to stop a movie being made, but they're not usually that ambitious.

[bgmnts]

Harold and Kumar try to get high off legal CBD oil.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think Dude, Where's My Car? could still work as it's an object of a certain value that they've lost, it's not just that they wish to get from A to B in a specific time or anything like that. And then of course there's all the madness with aliens, but on that front I guess we're in to high concept territory and away from the simpler stories the other films have.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

we're in to high concept territory

But they're all "high" concept.

[dead-ced-dead]

But they're all "high" concept.

What you did there! I see it.

[dead-ced-dead]

I think Dude, Where's My Car? could still work as it's an object of a certain value that they've lost, it's not just that they wish to get from A to B in a specific time or anything like that. And then of course there's all the madness with aliens, but on that front I guess we're in to high concept territory and away from the simpler stories the other films have.

Yeah, that's a good example. Shame it's not very good (in my opinion, of course).

[dissolute ocelot]

I wonder if legalising marijuana (in many places) has reduced the point of some of these films, or at least the high stakes. Though other drugs are available, marijuana was always the funniest.

It should still be possible to get clueless people into zany adventures. Especially if they have a poor Uber rating.

EDIT: Beavis and Butthead lost their TV, and even if kids these days don't have TV they could lose their iPhones.

[dead-ced-dead]

I wonder if legalising marijuana (in many places) has reduced the point of some of these films, or at least the high stakes. Though other drugs are available, marijuana was always the funniest.

It should still be possible to get clueless people into zany adventures. Especially if they have a poor Uber rating.

That is absolutely another great point. The high stakes are no longer there.

[zomgmouse]

Bad Trip

[bgmnts]

I wonder if legalising marijuana (in many places) has reduced the point of some of these films, or at least the high stakes. Though other drugs are available, marijuana was always the funniest.

It should still be possible to get clueless people into zany adventures. Especially if they have a poor Uber rating.

EDIT: Beavis and Butthead lost their TV, and even if kids these days don't have TV they could lose their iPhones.

A heroine junkie road movie would be great. Like it starts out as humerous and turns into a bleak Trainspotting Requiem for a Dream affair.

[dead-ced-dead]

A heroine junkie road movie would be great. Like it starts out as humerous and turns into a bleak Trainspotting Requiem for a Dream affair.

Trainspotting's a good example. When it's funny it's really, really funny, but then it turns on a dime and becomes one of the scariest non-horrors of the 90s.

[greenman]

without leaving the sofa.

Relaxer?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Potheads can be quite paranoid. Would that be a believable enough excuse for them to reject smartphones? Or would it make the characters too offputting?

[dead-ced-dead]

Potheads can be quite paranoid. Would that be a believable enough excuse for them to reject smartphones? Or would it make the characters too offputting?

Harold and Kumar has a good workaround. It wouldn't be smartphones, but in 2004 mobiles were common enough:

Kumar: Oh I forgot my phone

Harold: Do you want to go back and get it?

Kumar: *stares down corridor - their front door is only a few feet away* We've gone too far.

[greenman]

Potheads can be quite paranoid. Would that be a believable enough excuse for them to reject smartphones? Or would it make the characters too offputting?

I think Relaxer is set in the late 90's but Buzzard was set in the 2010's I believe and that did had something of tech fear to it with the protagonist sticking to a very pre Net kind of lifestyle.

[dead-ced-dead]

I think Relaxer is set in the late 90's but Buzzard was set in the 2010's I believe and that did had something of tech fear to it with the protagonist sticking to a very pre Net kind of lifestyle.

Dope is quite similar. The teen leads are very much nostalgic for 90s hiphop and they dress like they're out of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

[Blumf]

I wonder if legalising marijuana (in many places) has reduced the point of some of these films, or at least the high stakes. Though other drugs are available,

Has there been a film about a couple of white collar cunts getting off their tits on coke and having an adventure through the big city? Would be enjoyable seeing them getting fucked over at every step of the way but being too up their own arse to realise what a bunch of dicks they're being

Seems like something Comic Strip Presents would have done back in the day.

[peanutbutter]

I watched the Beach Bum coming down from acid and absolutely fucking loved it. Set around an older guy whose inherently quite successful and privileged though so that combo frees up the narrative in a way old school stoner comedies didn't really need.


Smiley Face is the last one I can think of before that. Although things like Relaxer def seem like a bit of an evolution of the format.