World Famous Comics: Reefer Madness - The Movie Musical
Reefer Madness - The Movie Musical
Starring: Kristen Bell, Christian Campbell, Neve Campbell, Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer Directed By: Andy Fickman Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Showtime Ent. Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: November 08, 2005 Running Time: 109 minutes Theatrical Release Date: April 16, 2005
Amazon.com: If the idea of making a musical out of Roger Corman's Z-movie quickie The Little Shop of Horrors sounded weird, stick around for the all-singing, all-dancing Reefer Madness. Deliriously based on the notorious 1936 anti-pot social-guidance film, this is an ultra-campy enterprise that lands somewhere between Rocky Horror and a John Waters comedy. Christian Campbell and the spritzy Kristen Bell play the innocent teens lured into a soul-sapping cloud of marijuana dependence by pencil-mustached pusher Steven Weber and his long-suffering dame, Ana Gasteyer. The cast includes femme fatale Amy Spanger and a cameo by Neve Campbell, who dances her way through one sequence. The musical was written and composed by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, who re-create some of the kookiest scenes from the original movie ("Faster! Faster!"). Their funniest idea is to frame the sordid saga with a black-and-white story of a government agent showing a public-service film to horrified small-town citizens; he's played by the reliably sinister Alan Cumming, who also pops up in a variety of guises in the film-within-the-film. The only problem with this made-for-Showtime version of the stage show is that camp tends to wear thin, especially at 109 minutes, despite the expert song parodies. Even the original hour-long Reefer Madness got old quick. --Robert Horton
Description: Based on the propaganda film from 1936 that has become a cult hit, Reefer Madness is the height of camp entertainment! Framed as a "documentary", a straight-laced high school principal (Alan Cumming) seeks to impart his wisdom about the demon weed by telling a frightful tale about the fate of two innocent teens who fall under the spell of the drugs. Filled with outrageously funny and musical performances by Neve Campbell, Christian Campbell, Kristen Bell and Steven Weber, Reefer Madness is the feel good event of the year!
High Times for Reefer Maddness Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical is a great time to be had by all. With great musical numbers, screwball humor, and a satirical undertone, how could you go wrong. There is some great character acting in this movie and it needs to be seen at least once for that alone, and it gives a good fresh feel to the "Musical" genre. This film is all highs and no lows, in fact one could say it gets crazier the more it goes on.
Take One Hit, And You'll Be Addicted I came because I was a Kristen Bell fan, but I stayed because this is a damn good film. It works as a musical (sorry, Across the Universe, a musical means you need both music AND story) and a hilariously campy movie. "Reefer Madness" is absolutely one of the most entertaining movies I've seen.
It's over-the-top. It's social commentary with hilarious twists. It's campy, but it uses that camp and thrives off of it. The songs are fantastically catchy (I still have "turning all your children into hooligans and whores!" caught in my head) and actually really, really good. Both stars, Kristen Bell and Christian Campbell, are wonderful in their parts, each of which calls for a lot of diversity (ranging from playing perfect kids all the way to sexual, drug-using deviants, to zombies). Both of them, particularly Bell who can also dance like I never could have imagined, have powerful singing voices that fit the musical genre very well.
It's no Academy Award Winner, but seeing as what movies are currently getting the Oscars that's more a compliment than anything else. If you're looking for a movie to make you smile, laugh, and gawk incredulously at the screen in sheer blissful shock, "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical" is just right for you. I feel like this review is lacking, because I can't adequately explain the wonders of this movie. Maybe you should try it for yourself. Go ahead. Try it. Just once...
8/10
A great movie that you've probably never heard of "Reefer Madness: the Musical" is yet another entry in the seemingly endless stream of musical remakes of existing movies. Yet, unlike other recent musical remakes, such as "The Producers" or "Hairspray", "Reefer Madness: the Musical" is actually better than the original, and the makers of it seem to have made an effort to hire actors who can actually sing and dance.
The original movie in question is "Reefer Madness" (included as an extra on this disc) a 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda movie that has such a far-fetched plot that it is absolutely hilarious. "Reefer Madness: the Musical" is an intentionally funny movie (and it is very funny), yet it stays remarkably close to the original, even down to reusing some of the original dialogue. The plot centers around Jimmy and Mary, two clean-cut teenagers whose lives are destroyed after they encounter the demon-weed, marijuana. Murder, insanity, cannibalism and much singing result. The songs are pretty good, and as I said before, the actors can actually sing and dance.
I am amazed that this film isn't better known. Admittedly, it was made for TV (Showtime), rather than for a cinema release, but the production quality is equivalent to that of a cinema-release movie, and I would have thought that something this bizarre would have become as big a cult classic as the original movie. Instead, I had to stumble across this film in order to discover it, and presumably, that is how you discovered this review, too. Buy this DVD and you won't regret it.
What A Wallop! What-a-Wallop of a grate time!:) This is one film that will have you LAGHFING till it hurts from beginning to end!:) It is a SPOOF/REMAKE of a nineteen-thurity six nistalga film of the same name that served as a wrning film to parents about the dangers of marjuanna!:) It is very over the top and not factual!:) The dvd includes the origonal ninteen-thurity six film:)
Kristen Bell in a scene as a dominatrix...what more could you want?! I don't like musicals. I always thought I'd never find one I'd actually enjoy that'd have actors in it I liked, much less actors with good voices. Well, that's all changed upon my discovery of Reefer Madness The Musical.
Being the uber Kristen Bell fan I am, I was still wary of buying this...until I heard a snippet from one of her numbers included. Truth be told, each and every song is fun, catchy, and just all around good. Yes, I'll always say K. Bell's songs are better, but in all honesty they are. She has an amazing voice that I would've never given her credit for and it's displayed wonderfully throughout Reefer Madness. Everyone involved, however, has a good voice. The other lead, Christian Campbell (Neve's brother), has a really great voice, also put to good use with his bountiful amount of songs.
The premise of Reefer Madness is widely known. Basically a propaganda film to keep people away from marijuana, the campiness is at an all-time high. However, this time around we see Alan Cumming holding a PTA meeting...the topic? The dastardly new drug, MARIJUANA. His way of communicating the effects of the drug is through a film. This is where we meet Jimmy and Mary. Yadda yadda yadda, things happen, songs are sung, and you're likely saying, "Hm, this is a great movie."
All in all, I'll stand by this being the best musical I've seen for a long time to come. I don't have a whole lot else to add, everythings already been said. Enjoy!
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