‘Ripped’ leaves viewers with chronic laughter

Cheesy film packs blunt weed puns, crude humor

Used+with+fair+use+from+Screen+Media+Films.

Used with fair use from Screen Media Films.

Elise Riley

Available on Netflix as of Oct. 31, following it’s release date in June, “Ripped” transcends the pot stigma and wholeheartedly embraces recreational marijuana usage in this TV-MA comedy.

Starring best friends Reeves (Faizon Love) and Harris (Russell Peters), this film follows two teenage stoners after they’re sent into a 30 year coma from smoking top secret CIA marijuana. Presumed dead, the friends awaken to the year 2016 — a world very different from the 1986 society they remember.

With teenage minds in adult bodies, the storyline follows Reeves’ and Harris’ clumsy adaptation to the new time period. Features such as cell phones and automatic doors, and the legalization of recreational marijuana, all come into play as they attempt to co-found a weed-laced chili restaurant, called “The Chili Pot.”

Part of the film’s comedy comes from whimsical jabs at weed culture, such as portraying the resident pot dealer as an old white lady (Mary Skaggs), and coining the local marijuana dispensary ‘Home DePot.’ Additionally, the only other stoner in the movie aside from Reeves and Harris is depicted as a surfer dude hippie with an all too predictable “peace, bro” persona.

Evidence of Reeves’ and Harris’ adolescent minds serves laughs as Harris stumbles over his words in a hormonal craze when he sees his ex-girlfriend Debbie (Alex Meneses) in a sensual context. The seemingly grown adults also instantly bond with Debbie’s pot-smoking teenage son, Brad (Bridger Zadina), treating him like he’s “one of the bros.”

The production of the film plays to the crude light-hearted demeanor, with usage of unique and comical camera angles and sound effects, mild backside nudity and frequent marijuana usage.

Despite having a few loose moral lessons, “Ripped” fails to deliver a memorable storyline and would leave any anti-420 viewers wondering why they wasted 97 minutes of their life. Akin to movies like “Dumb and Dumber,” “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” the selling point of this film is the outrageously crude humor.

Not quite on the level of “Pineapple Express,” and despite coming off as very mediocre, “Ripped” seems to be a forward-thinking and futuristic film likely to be remembered as one of the first pro-marijuana movies of the legalization era.

Directed by Golden Globe award winner Brad Epstein, “Ripped” rolls in inappropriate humor and cheesy weed puns, leaving some viewers disgusted and others chuckling.