Baked in Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Baked in Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie Review

Just say probably no.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 29, 2016

New York City is generally considered to be a bastion of liberalism, and the borough of Brooklyn has become what I might term the east coast version of my home town of Portland, Oregon (i.e., lots of gentrification and even more hipsters), and so it may be a bit of a surprise to find out that even medical marijuana laws in the burg are fairly restrictive, and that there are no recreational marijuana laws that I’m personally aware of. Contrast that with my home town, where medical marijuana has been around for quite a while and recreational marijuana has been legal for a year or so. Portland is in fact awash with marijuana dispensaries, to the point that they’re becoming almost as numerous as that “other” mecca of Pacific Northwest consumerism, the coffee shop. The fact that recreational marijuana isn’t legal at least provides a baseline of authenticity for the otherwise pretty unbelievable Baked in Brooklyn, a film which kind of cheekily claims to be “unfictionalized”, but which doesn’t go to the lengths of (apparently) being “based on a true story”, as was another film about a young entrepreneur engaged in the illicit drug trade, Kid Cannabis (kind of weirdly also released on Blu-ray by Well Go USA, a label more associated with niche Asian fare). The basic setup of Baked in Brooklyn is kind of alarmingly similar to High Maintenance, albeit in this case the “hero” dealer has a name and remains at the locus of the plot. David Shapiro (Josh Brener, The Big Bang Theory, Silicon Valley) is introduced at one of those hipster enclaves where people get up on stage and read stories about their lives. The bulk of the film is then a flashback as David begins talking about his unlikely “career” as a drug dealer. He’s first introduced in the flashback as a nerdy sort unhappily ensconced in a Manhattan skyscraper doing some sort of office drudge work that involves spreadsheets. His dispirited voiceover indicates the job is soul crushing, but at least makes his parents happy that he’s employed. In the first of several less than credible plot points, David is also a fairly hearty partier who is prone toward popping pills he doesn’t even know anything about, but who declines marijuana at every turn. Whatever happened to that old mantra about weed being a gateway drug? At one of these quasi-raves, David meets cute with a stunning young woman named Kate (Alexandra Daddario, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) who (in the next instance of credulity stretching) pretty much jumps David’s bones, despite the fact that he’s not exactly a studly type. While the two end up back at David’s apartment, suddenly Kate demurs from “going all the way,” but still is willing to spend the night with David, as long as his hands don’t get too touchy feely. Already Baked in Brooklyn is on pretty tenuous narrative footing and the pathway only gets more precarious as the film proceeds.

There are a number of elisions Baked in Brooklyn’s screenplay makes along the way, not the least of which is the weirdly unmotivated matriculation of Kate “friend zoning” David to becoming his girlfriend. Also left somewhere on the cutting room floor is information about how things go wrong for David at his office job, leading to his termination and need for income. Even David’s own transformation into a weed dealer is oddly circumscribed. It’s as if screenwriter David Shapiro (yep), who one assumes is basing this tale upon some personal experience (hence that “unfictionalized” part), is too close to the story elements and therefore unaware that those not that close to them need a little more information to help make sense of everything.

The middle section of Baked in Brooklyn is filled with various vignettes of David’s drug dealing escapades, including his interactions with Ace (Michael Rivera), a supplier who kinda sorta becomes the villain of the piece late in the proceedings, except even that potential conflict is elided and ultimately resolved with a more or less “never mind” from David (delivered as an after thought during his “standup” routine reading his story). The odd thing about Baked in Brooklyn is that it doesn’t seem to know what tone it wants to exploit. The film seems to be a goofy romance of sorts to begin with, but then turns increasingly dark, if never substantially enough to be thought of as a realistic drama.

Brener does a kind of patented (not necessarily by him) neurotic Jew character here, a kind of hyperarticulate sort who is still incapable of ever really saying anything. Daddario does what she can with a really underwritten character, though the film’s conceit of a wealthy girl falling for a less than privileged sort almost seems like a willful reversal of Love Story . The “tragedy” here is not the death of one of the lovers, but the inability of the film to ever come out of its drug induced haze to deliver a consistent message.

Baked in Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Baked in Brooklyn is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. I haven't been able to track down any verifiable technical data on the shoot (the film's cinematographer doesn't even have it listed on his website), but this appears to have been digitally shot and it boasts a generally very well detailed image. That said, things are kind of rote looking throughout this presentation, with very little warmth in the palette and a kind of by the numbers look that is workmanlike but not very inspiring. Close-ups often reveal excellent fine detail (see screenshot 2), but some of the murkier scenes, especially those in David's apartment, don't offer a wealth of detail or fine detail. There are no issues with image instability and no problems with compression artifacts.

Baked in Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly to the video element, Baked in Brooklyn's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 gets the job done perfectly well without offering a lot of "wow" factor. The best surround activity comes courtesy of some of the busy urban soundscape that David bikes through, as well as some party scenes and other sequences which utilize some bass heavy source cues. Dialogue is cleanly presented and well prioritized on this problem free track.

Baked in Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:16)

As tends to be the case with Well Go USA releases, the disc has been authored to have the previews for other Well Go USA releases automatically follow this film's trailer.

Baked in Brooklyn Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

David Shapiro the character might have needed more help than David Shapiro the screenwriter was able to offer, perhaps simply due to the fact the real life Shapiro was too close to the subject to see some of the narrative deficiencies of the final screenplay. The film has moments of fitful charm, but like a stoner's short term memory, they're often gone in a puff of smoke. Fans of the cast may consider this a decent enough rental, and technical merits are fine for those or others who are considering a purchase.