Homegrown (1998)

Released to only a handful of theaters in the spring and summer of 1998, Homegrown was neglected by nervous distributors who couldn't figure out how to market a movie about marijuana farmers. As a result, hardly anyone saw this cleverly plotted comedy-thriller about three experienced pot growers in northern California (Billy Bob Thornton, Hank Azaria, and Ryan Phillippe) who guard their valuable outdoor crop against raids by the cops and unwanted competitors. When their mysterious leader is apparently murdered, Thornton assumes the dead man's identity to arrange one last, lucrative bumper-crop deal, but pulling off the scam proves to be a lot harder than they'd anticipated. While the three potheads seek refuge with an old colleague (Kelly Lynch) and routinely sample their goods (which explains the film's theatrical obscurity), Homegrown turns into a taut thriller fueled by equal parts comedy and paranoid tension--an update of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with marijuana instead of gold! Featuring cameo roles for Jamie Lee Curtis, Ted Danson, and John Lithgow, this entertaining film fell victim to the misguided fear that it promotes drugs and illegal activity. If anything, it promotes interesting characters, catchy dialogue, and a welcomed alternative to mainstream Hollywood comedies. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

GREAT MOVIE!!!

This movie was great!! If you like Billy Bob, you'll love this movie even more!! Billy Bob is SUCH a great actor/director, etc.!! June 27, 2008

If you've ever lived the life then you'll appreciate this gem

Homegrown is a gift to anyone who's ever taken part in the herbacious sporting life. Billy Bob Thornton plays the smartest of three underachieving men guarding a mondo sized field of weed. He handles the role of senior man on site well. His acerbic wit is outstanding in this. His droll delivery of sarcastic disgust when outlining the obvious for the other two partners is pure music to my ears. I'd say 9 out of every 10 things he had to say were just brutally funny. In my opinion, nobody does this better then Billy. Hank Azaria plays the second man who's almost as smart but not quite and his lines are magic, too. Ryan Phillipe does well as the clueless kid, cursed by inexperience but packed with enthusiasm as were we all at his age. It's his youthful exuberance and naivete as he screws up that is so fun to watch. Overall, the movie is funny, even when it gets violent (which there's not much of). It somehow mixes humor you'd expect from potheads and the deeper type of humor found from clearer thinking minds. I've been both and this appealed to each side of my life experience. Whether you watch this in a smoke filled room or not, you will laugh hard and often. March 31, 2008

Kinda weird...

This movie gave me the same kinda scratch my head feeling as Pleasantville, but much more entertaining. You can almost get a contact high from the DVD itself...geez :O) March 8, 2006

Great Comedy Movie!

It is a great movie. Slightly dark comedy. I stumbled onto it back in 2004, I believe, on HBO one night. Within 15 minutes I knew I had to own it. I couldn't believe all these big actors were in it and yet I had never heard of it. I made sure to check the date on it at the end of the film - 1998. I was wowed because that is farther back than I thought. In 1998, I was too young to appreciate such a movie. ****Ted Danson as the toy factory mafia guy is hilarious.**** It's a great movie, at least rent it. Actually it might be cheaper to buy it now, BUY IT. January 15, 2006

All-star cast, great drama, but it didn't get much screentime

Homegrown is a difficult movie to explain or market. Some people seem to want to call it a comedy to help ease the touchy marijuana subject, but it is really a crime drama, not a comedy. It's a comedy only in the way that some unseasoned criminals screw up on the job (as in an Elmore Leonard novel), but that's just relief from what is truly a dramatic film about marijuana farmers. One can't help but wonder how the studio planned to deal with a possible backlash to a film that presents marijuana farmers as good guys, not demons.

The cast is terrific, from Billy Bob Thornton to John Lithgow to Jamie Lee Curtis to Jon Bon Jovi, among many other big names. If you want to see a movie most people didn't get a chance to view on the big screen, check this one out.
December 19, 2005

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