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| Available at Amazon.com |
It’s a pretty common thing these days. Take a few older films that aren’t strong enough to stand on their own and have some sort of joining theme and toss them together to make a box set that reasonably priced in hopes of making a few more bucks off of them. In this collection Universal gives us Half Baked, How High, CB4 and Trippin’.
Our first film is hilarious and stands well enough on it’s own. In fact I’m pretty sure they only put it in this collection as an attempt to sell the other ones. This is Half Baked (1998), easily one the greatest films made about pot. It stars a young Dave Chappelle (pre Chappelle’s Show). When one of his friends gets put in prison for accidentally killing a police horse, Thurgood (Chappelle) and his friends start selling pot in order to raise bail. Unfortunately the girl of Thurgood’s dreams doesn’t like this idea. This film is a laugh a minute and you’ll be quoting it for years.
Up next we have How High (2001), a film that feels like Cheech & Chong meets Animal house but with Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man and Redman as the stars. When Silas’s (Method Man) friend dies, he uses the ashes to fertilize one of his many pot plants. When he smokes said pot it allows the ghost of his friend to materialize. Since his friend his dead he knows everything and helps Silas and Jamal (Redman) ace their “THC” exams, which allows them entrance to any college of their choice and they choose Harvard. Wackiness ensues that they run amuck the campus and teach the squares a lesson. This is a very stupid and surprisingly funny film.
Almost every box set has at least one stinker in it. Trippin’ (2001) is another in a long line of generic high school comedies. Greg (Deon Richmond) spends more time daydreaming than planning his future. That is until he falls for Cinny (Maia Campbell) a smart girl with a future. So he starts applying to colleges and trying to get Cinny to go to the prom with him. It has all the elements you’ve seen in just about ever high school comedy and offers nothing new or interesting.
Lastly we have CB4 (1993) which is sort of a This Is Spinal Tap for rap music. Albert (a very young Chris Rock) leads a group of middle class suburban guys who create gangster rap personas and become very famous. However when the drug dealer Gusto (Charlie Murphy) who Albert stole his gangster name from gets out of prison, his life and the future of the band is in great danger. This is a solidly funny and entertaining film.
Three out of four isn’t bad for a collection like this and if you’re looking to buy any single one of these films you might as well just pick this up cause you’re sure to enjoy most the other ones.
All films are presented in anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1. Half Baked and How High are in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Trippin’ and CB4 are in Dolby Digital 2.0. All the films look and sound fine.
Nothing.
At a retail price of 20 bucks you’re looking at five bucks a film. Sure you don’t get any special features, but if you don’t care about that kind of thing then this set is a pretty good value.
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Universal presents Comedy Pack Quadruple Feature. Starring Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Method Man and Redman. Running time: 380 minutes. Rated R. Released on DVD: August 5, 2008. Available at Amazon.com.
About Mike Noyes
