Top 10 Stoner Characters

So today is April 20th, 4/20, a day that has followed from the counterculture term that started merely as a time of the day to light up by some high school kids in California. This term has gained widespread recognition, so I thought it was only appropriate to post a list of what I find to be the top 10 stoner characters from movies. It's hard to portray a stoner in any way other than hilarious, so this list was pretty simple...and I'm not including Cheech nor Chong in this list because that'd be too easy...

10. Shorty (Marlon Wayans) from Scary Movie

Unfortunately, the sequels to this movie have gone down the typical progressively worse direction that comedy sequels tend to follow, but the original Scary Movie was pretty hilarious. I might have to rate him second best to "Officer Doofy," but nonetheless Shorty was definitely one of the best characters of the movie due to his utter stupidity, ridiculous voice and expressions.

9. Ed (Nick Frost) from Shaun of the Dead

Yeahh, boyeeee! A great movie and a great character, Ed is more of just a lazy bum in this role rather than a clearcut stoner, but it's pretty clear that he's a guy who indulges in the ganj. He also seems to be somewhat of a dealer though his response a couple times throughout the movie is that he's got nothing.

8. Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Although I think that this movie is a little overrated, I do have to admit that the fact that a guy who played both Jeff Spicoli and Harvey Milk in his acting career is pretty awesome. Pretty much all of the good parts of this movie involve Sean Penn as the long-haired, squinting surfer-stoner. Here's a little tribute video:



7. Floyd (Brad Pitt) from True Romance

Another big name actor playing a stoner, which might play a little into why I also have this on the list, but I could also say with confidence that this is the funniest role that Brad Pitt has ever played. Here's one of his scenes:




6. Lance (Jack Black) from Orange County

Jack Black as a stoner is just a delight. He plays an overall druggie in this movie, contributing to the dysfunctional family that Sean resents until he realizes they inspire his writing. This scene is when Lance decides he's going to do something with his life:



5. Saul (James Franco) from Pineapple Express

Saul is the lovable pot dealer in this movie who is only dealing so that he can get enough money to get his grandma into a nice retirement home. I need to watch this movie again because he had so many funny lines, such as this one, when Dale (Seth Rogen) and him are in the woods, hiding out from the bad guys who are after them:

Dale: ...how could he find us?
Saul: Um...heat-sinking missiles...bloodhounds...and foxes..barracudas
Dale: I'm just...I'm kind of flabbergasted when you say things like that...

And another one from around the same scene:

Saul: Man, why'd we have to go to the woods?
Dale: Well, you didn't come up with any ideas!
Saul: Yeah, I came up with two! Nowhere and Quizno's!

4. Dante (Peter Dante) from Grandma's Boy

I'll preface this by saying that this movie is so underrated. Coming from Happy Madison productions, this movie features all of the guys that you'd recognize from the other Adam Sandler movies, except they're in main roles because Adam Sandler isn't in it. Here's the premise: a 35 year old video game tester, Alex, has a roommate who spends the rent money on hookers, forcing Alex to move in with his Grandma and 2 friends. Alex has a dealer, Dante, who is a completely whacked out stoner, who befriends an African tribesman who hooks him up with a lion as a pet to guard his weed stash. By now, you can probably figure out why the Academy passed up on this one. Obviously the lion didn't work out (he ends up teaching a chimp karate instead)...here's what happened (warning: foul verbiage):



3. Slater (Rory Cochrane) from Dazed and Confused

This is arguably my favorite movie of all time: a story surrounding the last day of a Texas high school, which obviously needs a stoner character: Slater. Here's Slater's theory behind George Washington:



2. Brian (Jim Breuer) from Half Baked

I could include the entire cast of this movie in this list. A group of 4 friends loses one, the kindergarten teacher, to jail, after he accidentally fed a diabetic police horse munchies food and killed him. The other 3 bond together and start dealing to get him out. Here's a good scene with Brian:



1. The Dude (Jeff Bridges) from The Big Lebowski

The Dude is the Yoda of stoners.

You're probably familiar with the "F'in Short Version" series of videos where people take a movie and strip it down solely to the times when the F-bomb is mentioned. The Big Lebowski was a popular one...but have you seen the Dude Version?