Released by: Dark Star
Released on: December 31st, 2024.
Director: Andy Fickman
Cast: Kristen Bell, Christan Campbell, Neve Campbell, Alan Cumming
Year: 2005
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Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical – Movie Review:
Based on the 1936 anti-drug scare film, Reefer Madness, Andy Fickman’s Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical follows a high school principal (Alan Cumming) on his quest to educate the local populace about the dangers of smoking the devil’s lettuce and the horrifying effects that it will have on their teenagers. He does this by telling the story of two teenagers who, while innocent at one time, have since turned to marijuana use and whose lives haven’t been the same since.
As he tells us this cautionary tale, we see their story play out with our own eyes. A woman named Mary Harper (Kristen Bell) meets, and falls for, an all-American guy named Jimmy Harper (Christian Campbell). Their relationship is great, until Jimmy falls in with Jack Stone (Steven Weber) and Mae Coleman (Ana Gasteyer), pot dealers by trade! Jimmy takes an immediate shine to weed, he loves it, and despite warnings from various friends and even Jesus Christ himself (Robert Torti), he just can’t say no to the stuff.
Before you know it, Jimmy is hanging out at Jack’s place all the time, alongside the perpetually stoned Ralph Wiley (John Kassir) and a woman of loose morals named Sally (Amy Spanger) who eventually sells her infant child for drug money. Jimmy’s grades start to plummet and soon enough, he drives high and runs over an old man. But that isn’t the worst of it – when he one day, he kisses Mary and dares to slip her the tongue! When Mary finally decides to give weed a try herself, she hallucinates and sees herself in a very different light and our once pure as snow couple quickly find themselves on the road to Hell, all thanks to smoking pot!
Sticking fairly close to the 1936 original, Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, which was written by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, is playful, fun and frequently hilarious. The dance choreography by Mary Ann Kellogg is top-notch and the production values – costumes, sets, props and the like – all work well in the period setting in which the story takes place. The script is clever, making some astute societal observations and well-placed political jabs, and many of the songs are as funny as they are genuinely catchy.
The production is cast very effectively. Pretty blonde Kristen Bell is a good choice as the girl next door type. She proves to be a solid choice and plays her initially very innocent character quite well and has good chemistry with Christian Campbell, also very good in his role and able to go way over the top when the story calls for it. Supporting work from Steven Weber, Ana Gasteyer and a fantastic scenery chewing John Kassir is also noteworthy, and watch for Neve Campbell in a bit part as a waitress. Alan Cumming, however, steals pretty much every scene that he’s in right from the start. His speech and opening song that the movie starts off with is a highlight of the film and it’s hilarious to see him pop up throughout the movie not just when it cuts back to his lecture, but in the background of quite a few scenes as well.
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical – Blu-ray Review:
Dark Star brings Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical to Blu-ray framed in 1.78.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition on a 25GB disc and it looks quite good. Shot digitally, the image is obviously free of any dirt or damage. Detail looks strong throughout and color reproduction is handled nicely. Black levels are nice and deep as well and if this isn’t going to be your new high definition demo disc, the picture offers up nice depth and texture throughout.
The 24-bit English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track, which comes with optional English subtitles, also sounds good. An alternate English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is also included on the disc.
Extras are limited to trailers for a few other Dark Star Blu-ray releases, menus and chapter selection options.
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical - The Final Word:
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical is a creative and very funny send up of the original cult classic performed by a great cast with some catchy musical and dance numbers placed throughout. The Blu-ray release from Dark Star is light on extras but it looks and sounds quite good, making this one worth seeking out.