Trailer: 'Super High Me'

My first thought after watching this trailer was "Holy God, how on Earth could this guy possibly get away with this?" The Wikipedia article about the movie notes: "Everything Doug Benson did in the film is legal in California." Benson seems to confirm that assertion in a Gothamist interview:

I was working as a standup comedian. I started doing standup when I was twenty-two and was fairly clean living. Some drinking, but no drugs to speak of. I started performing in the Bay Area at clubs around San Francisco, working with some of the comics up there who smoked almost after every show. I started doing it with them. For the first few years that I smoked pot, I was kind of a pot mooch. I just smoked basically when I was working with other comedians who smoked pot and then eventually I realized that I had to strike out, buy some on my own, and now I'm a card carrying medical marijuana patient.

Clearly there's some missing detail here, and I suppose it's okay to withhold information from the press about some pre-existing condition that qualifies Benson to get a prescription. But still, there's something inherently flagrant about the project that weirds me out just a touch. Don't get me wrong - I think it's ballsy and I hope it lives up to its promise. The film's editor noted:

Our "b-stories" include the activists, dispensary owners, politicians and patients who comprise the medical marijuana movement. The situation in California is basically anarchy and chaos. Every jurisdiction is handling the "legality" of Prop. 215 in a different way. Some prosecute. Most ignore. Los Angeles has over 200 dispensaries now.

And this comment from Benson is particularly noteworthy:

All of my friends are in it and quite a few of them actually get captured smoking pot on film, which I was very proud of because I think that's part of what we want the movie to do. To not only make people who smoke pot laugh, but make people who don't smoke pot realize that it's all around us, that it's not hurting anyone, that it's something that should be more accepted, and certainly in the voting booth. People should be working toward passing medical marijuana laws because if someone is in pain and sitting at home minding their own business and smoking pot makes them feel better then they should be allowed to do that. But yeah, that's what it is. There's lots of comedians in the movie. Sarah Silverman, Bob Odenkirk, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn.

The idea that "it's all around us" is one of the guiding notions behind this very blog, so I definitely resonate with the idea of shining light into cultural crevasses. But more importantly, I truly hope the presence of the likes of Sarah Silverman and Bob Odenkirk is a positive contribution to the national argument about drug use, particularly at a time when celebrity drug (ab)use in particular receives such scathing coverage.

At any rate, this isn't being released until March 10, so I guess we have to wait to pass judgment, although apparently early screenings were received enthusiastically. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a broad enough release that we can see it in a theater full of people, where we can gauge the general reaction...