Last uploaded: Friday, May 8, 1998

A review of "Homegrown"

With the media's focus centered on today's release of Deep Impact, I wanted to also fill you in about another flick that may (or may not) be heading for your town. Today Tri-Star's Homegrown film opens in Vancouver and there's been nary a word about it via advertising. Seems that since this film features a certain illicit substance in a sizable role there's been little mentioned about the film even though it boasts a strong cast.

The reason I figure this pic is opening now in Vancouver is really because of two reasons: one, the west coast of Canada has a rep for having the most potent form of marijuana in North America; and second, well...remember what happened after Canada's gold medal winner in snowboarding tested positive for traces of the drug in his system? Yup, he's a local boy. Ergo, Vancouver must be a strong weedhead market, ergo Homegrown gets released today.

Now I haven't heard much about this flick -- in fact, if I were to hold a contest between The Gingerbread Man, Bulworth and this picture for the 'Most Unknown Film But Based on Who's Starring in It, You Still Think You Should Have Somehow Heard Something About It By Now' category for 1998, Homegrown would win hands down.

But if there's one city that's got a worse rep in North America for the grass you don't mow on Saturday, it's got to be Seattle. They practically have a coffee shop on every corner where you can buy the stuff and then smoke it while listening to the shop's grunge house band, right?

As our scooper will explain to you, somethings aren't what they appear to be...

"Haven't seen anything on your site, or anyone else's for that matter, about Homegrown, the marijuana-themed movie starring Billy Bob Thornton, Hank Azaria, Kelly Lynch, etc, directed by Steve Gyllenhall (sp?). Tri-Star, the distributing studio, put the movie out in Seattle several weeks in advance of the rest of the country, because they weren't sure how a dope flick would 'play in Peoria,' so to speak, and they wanted to gauge audience reaction before going forward with a nationwide release.

"Well, I'm here in Seattle, and I've seen it, so I'm zipping off a message about it. It's not exactly a test screening, since it's been open in regular theatres here, but as nobody else in the country has had the opportunity to catch it, I figure this advance word might be of interest.

"First of all, the ad campaign they ran locally made the movie look like a pothead comedy, like the recent Half Baked. THIS COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE MORE MISLEADING. The movie is actually a semi-action suspense thriller. There's some humor, sure, but it's not of the 'people getting stoned and having surreal adventures' variety. In fact, the story would be more accurately described as of the 'average Joes getting mixed up in crime by finding something that belongs to powerful criminals' genre, with the difference that the maguffin (the sought-after object that always drives the plot in these movies) happens to be a large stash of mary jane.

"That said, it's actually a decent movie. It's a little fractured and unfocused, with an occasionally overly busy storyline, but the tone is very consistent. It absolutely knows it's a crime thriller set against a cannibis backdrop, and never varies from it. In other words, it's not as if Cheech & Chong tried to make a 'straight' movie; it's just a thriller that happens to be about pot.

"The cast is great. Thornton, Azaria, and some guy who was in I Know What You Did... and White Squall make up the trio of low-level drug workers who stumble into a bigger opportunity. Although they're definitely 'types' (no-nonsense redneck, aging ex-hippie, easily distractable slacker dude), the relationships are clear and interesting, and the chemistry between the actors is strong. The movie indulges in some offbeat 'stunt casting,' in which Judge Reinhold, Jamie Lee Curtis, and some others show up for strange little cameos. Sometimes they work; sometimes they don't.

"The story is complex and mostly unpredictable, but what's really interesting is the presentation of the realities of marijuana production as a business. Like I said, it's not a pothead comedy; you don't have to be a regular toker to enjoy the movie. Again, I should stress that the ad campaign goes 180 degrees away from this fact, and I'm sure there have been a lot of freaked-out stoners in the audience who thought they were going to get another Bill & Ted type movie, and who were unable to follow a convoluted plot with betrayal, murder, and character-based tension.

"Anyway, that's my contribution. I have no idea when (or if) Tri-Star will be expanding Homegrown outside Seattle, but if they do, they had damn well better come up with an accurate marketing campaign, or risk losing the suspense-thriller audience who SHOULD be the target for the movie.

"I never thought I'd be saying this, but the folks in Tri-Star's marketing department clearly don't smoke enough pot. If they think this movie will appeal to and be enjoyed by stoners, they're idiots."

[Review rolled up by Harold Hellman.]

Quick "Star Trek 9" rumor

...just came in at the 11th hour: word is Paramount has now officially registered the film's title with the Motion Picture Association of America. Here's the catch -- apparently the title is registered as "Star Trek: Rebellion" This comes a couple of days after a rumor that Patrick Stewart, in his role as associate producer, vetoed "Prime Directive" as the film's title. [Give a big wet kiss to 'TrekHunter' and 'Robnhud' for the scoop.]

Patrick Sauriol
Creator, Chief Content Writer & Director
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