Good concept, poorly executed.

Better Late Then Never

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I think in order for me to be in on the joke though, I should have seen the original Reefer Madness before diving straight into this musical parody. I hope with this and the Plan 9 remake that making mockeries or remakes of bad movies becomes a thing. Either way this is a really good comedic musical whether you've seen the original or not, all you need is a basic knowledge of why Reefer Madness still is made fun of today and you'll still laugh at it.The plot is that in the 1930's a local school holds a function for the adults of the community called "Tell Your Children" where the presenter (Alan Cumming) tells them of a drug menace which one single use would transform the child forever into maniacal sociopathic murderers and when they calm down they will stop at nothing to get their next fix... Marijuana. He tells of a story via film of how marijuana destroyed 2 lives beyond repair.The music is great in this movie. Usually one thing that happens with a comedic musical is that the jokes in the song are purely visual, meaning taken out of context the songs are serious or the jokes are usually in the dialogue, making the music just 3 minute breaks from something funny. At least that's in my experience. This is the first I've seen which actually has funny music in it. There's an entire song and dance number done by Jesus himself pressuring the lead into not using marijuana. Although my favourite song in the movie doesn't have that many jokes in it (Mary Jane/Mary Lane) the music alone is worth seeing the movie for. Even if it's for that song with zombies in it.Basically all I do have to say about the movie is that I did find the jokes hilarious and the music is pretty damn good. The acting is good in the sense that it's over-the-top and everything else just sets the mood for the 1930's that people wanted to see of the over the top outright sickening portrayal of it.At the end of the day, if you want a joking knock to a bad movie then I can't recommend this movie more, even if you haven't seen the original. It just ends up being a lot of fun at the end of the day and a really big knock to conservative propaganda. If any of this sounds like your thing then see it.

What's the point of making a parody of an unintentionally funny movie, at least one as self-evidently specious as Reefer Madness? Not unlike hearing a really bad joke and then being subjected to an endless explanation of its underlying humor, RM: TMM riffs even more exaggeratedly on everything from the 1936 film that's been disproved by advances in science and psychology. However, the real subject of this ugly, unfunny movie is moral revisionism, i.e., pretending that our enlightened age is safe from the prejudices and errant thinking of previous generations. It's quite a snide little film, taking safe jabs at a perceived backward era without adding anything substantive to the mix. This is the height of lazy thinking and broad, liberal pandering, as if a couple of psych-major potheads screened the original film, got all indignant, and decided to decry its factual inaccuracies in musical form. Of course it screened at Sundance and of course it was heralded as a comedy gem.

This was the greatest spoof of musicals I ever saw. I am one of the few who liked Moulin Rouge because of its "Plan 9 from Outer Space" quality. The "narrator" played by Allen Cumming was like the narrator character in George of the Jungle; not just telling the facts but giving his opinions and effecting the story. In 1936 if the film had been made this way maybe more of a message would have been delivered. The original was silly and based on my times riding the school bus in High School obviously not based on actual observation of marijuana users. (NO, I AM NOT A USER AND NEVER HAVE BEEN) The film takes every stereotype of white America in the 1930's and uses it to the hilt. That poor Asian lady suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable when the "Fu Manchu" drug dealer gives Sally something for the baby was something the 1903's film makers wouldn't have even considered. One male chauvinist pig issue: Why didn't Ana Gastyer get undressed like the rest of the ladies?

Yawn. Really uninteresting idea, poorly executed. I worry about the state of modern musicals when something like this can rate as high as it did. The songs were everything a song shouldn't be. Lame music, lamer lyrics. It was, very much, like watching bad improv. Not campy bad, just bad. Each one an absolute turd. Okay, enough kvetching. There were some good points. Which is why it rated 5 and not 0. Ana Gasteyer was brilliant, very funny and she has an amazing voice. The choreography was quite clever and fun. The sets and the way it was shot were also quite good. It just all sinks under the leaden songs. I had, possibly, too high hopes for this. Now I just hoped I was high while watching it. Bad joke, I know. I couldn't help myself. The thing is they should have.