Reefer Madness

Reviewed by:
Larry Dobrow

The idea of an irony-drenched musical based on the anti-marijuana classic Reefer Madness is an inspired one, and it probably worked extremely well on stage. As a film, however, it's a great stage musical. The producers obviously dropped a lot of coin committing it to celluloid, but 16 musical sequences seem about five too many. (The original Reefer was shrill and overly alarmist—we get it already.) That said, its B-list Hollywood participants throw themselves into their roles with aplomb. Kirsten Bell (Veronica Mars), Christian Campbell (Neve's brother), and Neve Campbell (Christian's sister) can legitimately sing and shuffle their feet rhythmically, placing them several notches above, say, Madonna on the triple-threat food chain. Better still are theater vet Amy Spanger and throaty comic John Kassir, who put their fatter-walleted colleagues to shame (Kassir once beat out Sinbad on Star Search, so we know he's a keeper). Even when Reefer's at its worst—pretty much the entire last 40 minutes—the lyrics and script still boast their share of sharp-elbowed one-liners. It's a noble failure, but still a failure.

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