Blunt talk: The 15 best—and 5 worst—movies to watch when you're high

It’s hard to resist Anna Faris in anything, but she’s especially delightful in Gregg Araki’s as an unambitious wannabe actress who accidentally eats a plate of her roommate’s pot-laced cupcakes. Even if you don’t live in L.A., her subsequent misadventures—from trying to sell government-strength weed to a casting director (Jane Lynch, hilarious as always) to blearily talking to a strange voice atop the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier—you red-eyed kids will happily relate to.

Some might suggest staying far away from Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi classic lest you realize existence is as meaningless as you always suspected. But we say dive in. Who cares if getting high as balls before this long watch may leave you missing some of the plot? It’s so gorgeous you won’t really care—the film moves at a glacial pace anyway, so bake yourself a space cake and let your eyes feast on those visuals. Then get ready to wax philosophical with your pals about that pesky thing called life.

the Coen brothers’ loopy, mystical comedy, is so beloved it spawned its own religion: Dudeism. (Look it up!) Marijuana probably won’t make you hallucinate, but this movie might bring you close, thanks to the trippy, Busby Berkeley-ish interlude involving giant pins and Jeff Bridges floating between ladies’ legs down a bowling lane to Kenny Rogers and the First Edition’s “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Heady and philosophical rather than laugh-out-loud, Lebowski is less about watching people get blitzed—and all the jokes that come with that—than about abiding, chilling, and going with the flow. And buzzed or not, you’ll do just that.

Long before controversial comic Dave Chappelle was angering Netflix fans and before he departed his own show to cut and run to South Africa, he cowrote and starred in the 1998 dopehead comedy, (his first lead role). At the time Cheech and Chong were long in the rear view, and Half Baked was Chappelle’s attempt at reviving the stoner comedy for a new generation. The flimsy plot only exists as a backdrop for Jerry Garcia cameos, goofy jokes about the munchies, and random conversations about nonsense. Though much of the comedy is comprised of clichés from the Johnson administration-era and Woodstock (they’re wearing tie-dyed shirts, fr?) you will giggle. A lot.

It may be easier to purchase the Blu-ray for this Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki anime classic than to find it on streaming, but it’s well worth it because you’ll want to restart it right after it ends. Not only did win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, it still earns a spot on plenty of “greatest movies of all time” lists. You’ll be laser-focused on the visuals (vomiting faceless monsters, people turning into pigs, you know, the sort of things that make the eyes of potheads widen in awe), so maybe stick to the English dub to make sure you don’t miss a minute. Then let this journey through your mind begin, end, and begin again.

The trailer for invites you to take a trip beyond the future to a universe you’ve never seen before, and ain’t that the truth. The cult classic sci-fi anthology is just as graphically violent and sexual as you remember from junior high, only higher quality than that grainy bootleg you got from a friend. The cannabis is better today, too, so expect your mind to be blown as much by what’s happening onscreen as by the soundtrack—Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Sammy Hagar, Cheap Trick, and Devo are all here for your listening pleasure.

, a parody-slash-homage to Star Trek and its superfans, follows Tim Allen’s Jason Nesmith, a former sci-fi TV star whom a group of aliens known as Thermians believe to be a real starship captain. With no concept of how fiction works, they think Nesmith’s show is historical record and they recruit him to help them defeat an evil warlord. What follows is a wacky deep space adventure chock-full of quotable lines and spoofy action that you don’t need to have watched Star Trek to enjoy. And we’d be remiss to leave out the fact that Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman also star. If you wanna reach full pothead nirvana, get the Blu-ray and watch the entire thing in Thermian!

Any Quentin Tarantino film will be an entertaining watch while under the influence, but here we’re suggesting for its crackling dialogue and, well, carnage. The fight scenes are so over-the-top graphic, they very well could send a stoned you into fits of laughter. Samurai cinema, blaxploitation, spaghetti Western, and grindhouse all rolled into one brilliant revenge flick, Volume 1 is all striking visuals and violence set to a brilliant soundtrack—a perfect watch for 4/20. (And its sequel, because yes).

Cheech and Chong’s debut Up In Smoke is the OG stoner movie for the ages (Labrador dog poop spliffs, anyone?) and established them as weed-humor pioneers. But is where shit gets weird. Real weird. While disguised as ice cream salesmen and operating a dispensary out of their truck, the Baked Crusaders find themselves on the run when a certain strain they’re selling causes people to turn into lizards—including a suspicious Sgt. Stedanko (Stacy Keach). Unfortunately this gets in the way of their plans to retire, as they zigzag from one blitzed bit to the next. Chong directed, so it’s fun to see these two have a blast, literally, improvising much of their dialogue.

If you haven’t seen since you were a kid, it’s time for a rewatch—only baked. The colors will pop, the monkeys will be extra disturbing, and you’ll never listen to “Over The Rainbow” the same way again. Pro tip: Watch with the sound muted and play Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon album (start it right at the moment the MGM lion roars). It’s a weird, psychedelic pairing that will blow your mind, especially when “The Great Gig In The Sky” comes on as the tornado happens. #mindblown

Richard Linklater gave us the quintessential canna-comedy Dazed And Confused, which is an obvious choice for this list, but consider instead , his dark, druggy trip through a dystopian not-too-distant future. It stars Keanu Reeves as an undercover cop hoping to bust the operation behind a strong new drug, only he’s also addicted to it (the movie is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel about his personal experience). At once paranoia-inducing and pitch-black funny, you might be more than a bit weirded out by its similarities to what the U.S. is going through today. As Keanu Reeves would say, “Whoa!”

is tailor-made for video game geeks of a certain age who like the sweet leaf and who probably loved the book it’s based on. It’s 2045, and the only escape from a harsh world is to enter an immersive virtual universe known as the Oasis where you can do anything and go anywhere. From recognizable pop-culture characters to references to Saturday Night Fever to the ’80s music on the soundtrack, it’s all neon and lasers and lights and pure dank fun—especially for you pot-enhanced gamers out there.

Time moves slowly in , a low-stress, beautifully shot Wes Anderson movie that never got the love it deserved. Spoofing Jacques Cousteau, Bill Murray stars as the titular oceanographer who vows revenge on the rare shark that ate his partner and he assembles a motley crew to help him (the rivalry between Zissou and Jeff Goldblum as his ex’s husband is the stuff of genius.). The film features Anderson’s characteristic pastel-colored vibe, and everyone seems to be affected by the kind of melancholy ennui that most stoners will be well familiar with.

Was Walt Disney himself tripping when he created his animated phantasmagoria, ? It’s a legitimate question. His surreal love letter to classical music involves mushrooms dancing to the Nutcracker Suite along with hippos, alligators, and ostriches performing a ballet to Dance Of The Hours. The highlight, of course, is Mickey Mouse as the famous Sorcerer’s Apprentice having adventures with cleaning equipment set to the musical masterpiece of the same name, composed by Paul Dukas. Put this on with your stoner buddies and enjoy watching everyone’s mouths drop to the floor.

Some might say weed and horror don’t play nice, but Tim Burton’s fantasy comedy is mostly just horror adjacent, so you’re safe to toke up. Michael Keaton is at the top of his game as Beetlejuice, the ghost with the most who’s hired by a dead couple (played by Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) to scare away the home’s new residents. Mild gore, wacky hijinks, stop-motion effects, and national treasure Catherine O’Hara make this movie … showtime!

If you’ve ever read gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s roman à clef, , you know the story follows writer Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and his psychotic attorney (Benicio del Toro) as they hit Vegas in the early 1970s. And while there, they don’t do one or two drugs, but rather ALL THE DRUGS. As the movie flies off the rails (not the ones these two are sniffing), the plot descends into lunacy—their high is not the one you’re on, and the last thing you’re gonna want to watch is these two going in circles on a hallucinogenic bender.

You think, David Lynch directed this 1977 cult classic so it must be some crazy bizarro stuff that your stoned mind can really get into, right? This isn’t like Lynch’s later mind benders, such as Twin Peaks, that invite you in to solve a mystery. No, this is terrifying, floor-falling-out filmmaking that tells the story of a man disgusted by fatherhood yet stuck fathering a slimy, fleshy, twitchy aberration of a “baby” all by himself. And the baby won’t stop screaming. The movie was shot in muddy, grainy black and white and gives disturbing -by-way-of-John Waters vibes; all this to say that unless weed with a side of body horror is your thing, scroll on.

An all-star cast including the likes of Ian McKellen, Judi Dench, and Idris Elba ballet dancing in quasi-nude CGI cat costumes? Jennifer Hudson belting “Memories” through literal bubbles of snot? Fat jokes and sexy kitties? By the time the one cat starts in on “Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat” you’ll be running screaming into the night, under the influence or not, looking for a way to wash your eyeballs of this dreck. Nobody knew what to make of this overhyped, critically hate-watched musical in 2019, and you still won’t know in 2023, no matter how much of the ganja you’re smoking. (Bonus: if you didn’t already hate James Corden, well, here we are.)

Just reading the plot of this movie would put any stoner into an immediate anxiety spiral—Jason Statham is a hit man poisoned by the mafia who needs to keep his adrenaline flowing or he’ll die. (Spoiler you probably don’t need: the title is slang for meth.) hits the ground running as Statham’s hit man goes full-on cray-cray, indulging in car chases, gunfights, illegal drugs, and girlfriend sexy time in full view on a street in Chinatown. All this frenetic action and violence is shot in typical mid-2000s style with crazy angles and sped-up camerawork, pretty much the opposite of what you’re looking for while locked to your couch.