"Reefer Madness" (Showtime, 4/24/05, 8 p.m.) is a heady, sweaty mix of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Little Shop of Horrors," and Monty Python that should be eagerly devoured by fans of outrageous black comedy and be energetically avoided by everyone else.
For those unfamiliar with the original, "Reefer Madness" began life as a 1936 propaganda movie produced by '30s anti-drug czar Harry Anslinger (who lovingly has a high school named after him in the new version). The movie told an eerie tale about the evils of marijuana that was entirely based on nonfactual theories--chief among them that marijuana would lead its users to immorality, insanity, and jazz piano.
The new, musical (!) version is an obvious take-off on the original's hysteria. A smug narrator (played with perfect pitch by Alan Manning) lectures a group of naive parents about the devil's weed. This segues into a movie-within-the-movie about Jimmy, a naive high schooler led down the primrose road by slick drug dealer Jack (Steven Weber) and his reluctant accomplice Mae ("SNL" vet Ana Gasteyer), who have nothing better to do than drag cute high school kids down the road to ruin.
Critics have already noted that the '36 movie is too easy a target for satire, but that doesn't stop writers Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney from gleaning huge laughs from cultural naivete. Novices will be surprised to find that much of the new movie's most eye-rolling dialogue comes from the '36 original.
And the cast has a ball with the concept. Ana Gasteyer is far too tall and formidable to be playing a slapped-around dame, but she's still a riot (with a surprisingly good singing voice). Cumming chews the scenery with the grand fervor of someone with the munchies. I could go on forever, but suffice to say, there's not a bum note in the whole cast.
Be forewarned that this is comedy at its blackest. The gore gets laid on a little thick, there's a blasphemous musical number (shades of Monty Python's "Christmas in Heaven") that won't do liberals any favors, and the finale tries for social commentary after one-and-three-fourth-hours of campy fun.
But "Reefer Madness" gives a hilarious nose-thumbing to those who are all too willing to let jingoists do their thinking for them. It's an absolute hoot.
"Reefer Madness" is unrated but would probably earn a PG-13 or R for brief nudity, sexual situations, and stylized violence and gore.
For those unfamiliar with the original, "Reefer Madness" began life as a 1936 propaganda movie produced by '30s anti-drug czar Harry Anslinger (who lovingly has a high school named after him in the new version). The movie told an eerie tale about the evils of marijuana that was entirely based on nonfactual theories--chief among them that marijuana would lead its users to immorality, insanity, and jazz piano.
The new, musical (!) version is an obvious take-off on the original's hysteria. A smug narrator (played with perfect pitch by Alan Manning) lectures a group of naive parents about the devil's weed. This segues into a movie-within-the-movie about Jimmy, a naive high schooler led down the primrose road by slick drug dealer Jack (Steven Weber) and his reluctant accomplice Mae ("SNL" vet Ana Gasteyer), who have nothing better to do than drag cute high school kids down the road to ruin.
Critics have already noted that the '36 movie is too easy a target for satire, but that doesn't stop writers Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney from gleaning huge laughs from cultural naivete. Novices will be surprised to find that much of the new movie's most eye-rolling dialogue comes from the '36 original.
And the cast has a ball with the concept. Ana Gasteyer is far too tall and formidable to be playing a slapped-around dame, but she's still a riot (with a surprisingly good singing voice). Cumming chews the scenery with the grand fervor of someone with the munchies. I could go on forever, but suffice to say, there's not a bum note in the whole cast.
Be forewarned that this is comedy at its blackest. The gore gets laid on a little thick, there's a blasphemous musical number (shades of Monty Python's "Christmas in Heaven") that won't do liberals any favors, and the finale tries for social commentary after one-and-three-fourth-hours of campy fun.
But "Reefer Madness" gives a hilarious nose-thumbing to those who are all too willing to let jingoists do their thinking for them. It's an absolute hoot.
"Reefer Madness" is unrated but would probably earn a PG-13 or R for brief nudity, sexual situations, and stylized violence and gore.