Homegrown (Movie)

If you had asked me last week how long it would be before I would see a movie about marijuana that wasn't a dumb stoner comedy (Cheech & Chong, last year's Half Baked) or thinly disguised prohibitionist propaganda, I probably would have mumbled something about snowballs in hell. Well, I'm happy to announce that it's here right now. I am shocked and elated. The characters are real, the script is well-written, and the actors are both talented and recognizable. That's uncommon for any movie, much less one dealing with such an emotionally and politically charged subject. This could mark a very significant event in the history of drug prohibition.

Homegrown is set in the lush "green triangle" of northern California, where the scenery is breathtakingly gorgeous, the dope is potent and profitable, and everyone - everyone - is in on the business. The film revolves around three growers: Jack, the overseer (Billy Bob Thornton, the guy behind Sling Blade), Carter, the botanical whiz (Hank Azaria, best known (to me, at least) from the Simpsons), and Harlan, the aspiring kid in it for the free samples as much as the money (Ryan Phillippe). They are camping out, attending their crop, when their boss Malcolm (John Lithgow in a wonderful cameo) shows up in a helicopter for a surprise inspection only to be shot by the pilot. The trio are left with a body, a lot of pot, and a possible murder rap. The plot evolves wonderfully as they sort out Malcolm's business and family connections and try to cash in on 1500 pounds of killer weed. Along the way, they meet a variety of wonderful characters: Lucy (Kelly Lynch), revolving girlfriend and manicurist (and I'm not talking about nail polish, either), Danny (Jon Bon Jovi), the super-smooth buyer, Sierra (Jamie Lee Curtis), the matriarch of the farming community, and Judge Reinhold as a decent, upstanding crooked cop who is smart enough to recognize pot as the fountainhead of prosperity in his community.

Homegrown is being billed as a comedy, but that's not really accurate. There are certainly funny and touching moments, and occasional bits of stoner humor, but the movie is ultimately an involving drama defined by the characters, as the script weaves them in and out of the larger context of the northern California marijuana business. What makes this film so special, and distinguishes it as a movie, not just a movie about pot, is that the presentation is sympathetic and compassionate, but realistic as well. We watch with real involvement as the three farmers - and the growing community at large - try to maintain their sense of morality and decency amid the corrupting and violent influence of laws and money. As it should be, the marijuana is neither good nor evil, but assumes those qualities according to the circumstances of the people around it: Toking, in this movie, leads variously to both giggles and paranoia. As such, the potential damning effect of Homegrown on prohibitionist rhetoric could be considerable -- if people (that means you) go out and watch it. Publicity, as far as I can tell, has been nonexistent, and on the Saturday after opening, the audience consisted of about 20 giggling stoners -- not good. Please, don't wait for video. Go and see this movie in the theaters, and bring your friends. It deserves to succeed, for reasons aesthetic as well as political.

Homepage: http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/homegrown/