Stoner film

Stoner film is a subgenre of films that center around the use of the drug cannabis. Typically, such movies show cannabis use in a comic and positive fashion. Cannabis use is one of the main themes, and inspires most of the plot.

"Stoner film" as a genre
There are many movies about "stoners," films with characters who frequently use cannabis, and films that specifically target cannabis users, but these films are not, by definition, stoner films. A stoner film is a movie whose story line is patently centered around cannabis. The series of movies in the 1970s starring Cheech & Chong are archetypal "stoner movies." Some historic films like Reefer Madness have also become popular as "stoner movies," because their anti-drug message is seen by some modern viewers as so over the top that the film amounts to self-parody.

High Times magazine regularly sponsors the Stony Awards to celebrate stoner films and television. Many of these films do not fit the category of "stoner film" as a subgenre, but contain enough cannabis use to be deemed noteworthy by the periodical. For a list of films containing frequent cannabis use, see films containing frequent marijuana use.

There are also stoner t.v. shows like That 70's Show,Weeds, Freaks and Geeks, My Name is Earl and Entourage which involve characters who frequently use marijuana.

Common elements
Many stoner movies have certain elements and themes in common. The template involves two male friends who possess or are attempting to possess marijuana and have some task to complete. Stoner movies are always comedies, the plots of which are simplistic enough to be followed while missing many details, which allows individuals intoxicated from cannabis to be able to stay aware of the storyline. Often stoner films involve evading authority figures, sometimes law enforcement agents, who are portrayed as comically inept, but also parents, coworkers, friends, and security guards who disapprove of the protagonists' drug usage usually out of a greater lack of acceptance of their lifestyle of leisure and innocence. Most serious moments are intended ironically, often to parody overwrought counterparts in mainstream cinema.

Stoner films almost always have male protagonists. Smiley Face (July 2007) was the first to feature a female protagonist. The men are well-meaning and usually sexually frustrated, and will usually come comically close to sexual success with exceedingly beautiful women only to have the opportunity lost due to chance or ineptitude.

Examples of stoner films

 * Reefer Madness (1936)
 * Marijuana (1936)


 * Hi De Ho (1947)
 * Marijuana (1950)
 * Alice in Wonderland (1951)
 * High School Confidential (1957)
 * A Hard Day's Night (1964)
 * Help! (1965)
 * Blowup (1966)
 * I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968)
 * Easy Rider (1969)
 * Putney Swope (1969)
 * The Harder They Come (1972)
 * Fritz the Cat (1972)
 * Serpico (1973)
 * The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)
 * Shampoo (1975)
 * Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
 * Annie Hall (1977)
 * Pumping Iron (1977)
 * National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
 * Rockers (1978)
 * Cheech & Chong (series) (1978-1985)
 * Apocalypse Now (1979)
 * Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
 * Hair (1979)
 * Over the Edge (1979)
 * Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)
 * 9 to 5 (1980)
 * The Wall (1982)
 * Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
 * Scarface (1983)
 * Monty Python's Meaning of Life (1983)
 * Ghostbusters (1984)
 * Brazil (1984)
 * That Was Then... This Is Now (1984)
 * The Breakfast Club (1985)
 * Platoon (1986)
 * Born in East L.A. (1987)
 * Withnail and I (1987)
 * 1969 (1988)
 * Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
 * Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
 * Far Out Man (1990)
 * The Doors (1991)
 * Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)
 * Wayne's World (1992)
 * Dazed and Confused (1993)
 * Clerks (1994)
 * PCU (1994)
 * The Stoned Age (1994)
 * Friday (1995)
 * Kids (1995)
 * National Lampoon's Senior Trip (1995)
 * Tommy Boy (1995)
 * Mallrats (1995)
 * Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)
 * Happy Gilmore (1996)
 * Trainspotting (1996)
 * Bongwater (1997)
 * Dead Man on Campus (1998)
 * Half Baked (1998)
 * The Big Lebowski (1998)
 * SLC Punk! (1998)
 * Rushmore (1998)
 * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
 * Homegrown (1998)
 * Idle Hands (1999)
 * Grass (1999)
 * Never Been Kissed (1999)
 * Freak Talks About Sex (1999)
 * Human Traffic (1999)
 * Detroit Rock City (1999)
 * 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
 * American Beauty (1999)
 * Outside Providence (1999)
 * The Beach (2000)
 * Road Trip (2000)
 * Requiem for a Dream (2000)
 * Next Friday (2000)
 * Dude, Where's My Car? (2000)
 * Scary Movie (2000)
 * Saving Grace (2000)
 * How High (2001)
 * Super Troopers (2001)
 * Scary Movie 2 (2001)
 * Killer Bud (2001)
 * The Wash (2001)
 * Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
 * Blow (2001)
 * Ali G Indahouse (2002)
 * Slackers (2002)
 * National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)
 * Scooby-Doo (2002)
 * Laurel Canyon (2002)
 * Stealing Harvard (2002)
 * High Times' Potluck (2002)
 * Orange County (2002)
 * Rolling Kansas (2003)
 * Old School (2003)
 * Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
 * EuroTrip (2004)
 * Shaun of the Dead (2004)
 * Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
 * Club Dread (2004)
 * The Perfect Score (2004)
 * Going the Distance (2004)
 * Without a Paddle (2004)
 * Lords of Dogtown (2005)
 * The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
 * ''Grizzly Man (2005)
 * The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
 * Waiting... (2005)
 * Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005)
 * Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical (2005)
 * Grandma's Boy (2006)
 * Puff, Puff, Pass (2006)
 * Hostel (2006)
 * Beerfest (2006)
 * A Scanner Darkly (2006)
 * Clerks 2 (2006)
 * The Benchwarmers (2006)
 * Diggers (2006)
 * Beer League (2006)
 * Evil Bong (2006)
 * Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)
 * A Bug and a Bag of Weed (2006)
 * The Tripper (2007)
 * Knocked Up (2007)
 * Superbad (2007)
 * Hot Fuzz (2007)
 * Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
 * National Lampoon's Totally Baked: A Pot-U-Mentary (2007)
 * Super High Me (2007)
 * Death at a Funeral (2007)
 * Weirdsville (2007)
 * Smiley Face (2007)
 * Across the Universe (2007)
 * Remember the Daze (2008)
 * Strange Wilderness (2008)
 * Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)
 * Pineapple Express (2008)
 * Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
 * The Wackness (2008)
 * Surfer, Dude (2008)
 * Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)
 * Humboldt County (2008)
 * Brighton Wok: The Legend of Ganja Boxing (2008)
 * Grass Roots (2009)
 * 4/20 (2009)