Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

HIGH School Blu-ray Movie Review

There aren't too many lows in 'HIGH School.'

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 29, 2012

Gettin' high, it's like freedom.

HIGH School is a surprisingly enjoyable "Stoner Comedy" that focuses on characters and plot more than it does bong hits and puffy smoke clouds and tripped-up visuals and low-down humor. It's a fairly simple movie, a race-against-the-clock sort that champions the notion that the best way to hide a misdeed is to hide it in plain sight, in this case so plainly that everyone's guilty and nobody can escape the high. As films like Mac & Devin Go to High School and TV shows like "Weeds" show some of the lighter sides of marijuana usage, as medical marijuana gains popularity around the world, and as the legalization movement gains steam, is it possible that a new age of "Stoner" comedies could be the next big thing in cinema? If it is, HIGH School should rightly lead the charge. It's a movie that typically pits the hard-edged authority figures (though here with some whacky personality traits) and the clean-cut, stiff-lip preppy villain up against the longtime drug user and the novice brainiac who are only out to have a good time, man, and not harm anyone along the way. It's a classic "establishment versus rebel" tale, and in a way, it's the exact same set-up found in Mac & Devin. But in HIGH School, there are no CGI talking joints and there's a better flow to the plot and more fully-developed characters. It's a simple but fun and catchy little flick that will leave audiences tripping and ready to watch it again.

The p[l]ot thickens.

Morgan High School is proud to call Charlyne Phuc (Julia Ling) one of its own. She's amongst the best and brightest to ever pass through its hallowed halls, a star pupil in every way and a shoe-in to capture the state spelling bee title. Unfortunately, she embarrasses herself and her school on the big stage. When she's tasked with spelling "logorrhea," she giggles and breaks down and loses all self-control, culminating her meltdown with an epic F-bomb that makes her the shame of Morgan High and that points a harsh spotlight on the school. It turns out Miss Phuc is a regular weed smoker, using the illicit substance to assist her mind and access the "cosmic dictionary" which she claims aids her in spelling the most challenging words. Soon thereafter, a parking lot accident occurs at Morgan High that's the result of a stoned Travis Breaux (Sean Marquette) driving the wrong way and forcing star student Henry Burke (Matt Bush), recently admitted to MIT, to crash into Principal Gordon's (Michael Chiklis) car. Gordon's had enough with the weed and has decided to lay down the law. Between the Phuc incident and the parking lot disaster, he's ordering a school-wide drug test in twenty-four hours. All failing students will be expelled, and they can kiss their futures goodbye.

That's bad news for Henry. He's on the verge of graduating first in his class -- his 4.41 cumulative GPA puts him a few percentage points ahead of would-be runner-up Sebastian Saleem (Adhir Kalyan) -- and graduating with the cleanest record possible. As fate would have it, the parking lot accident results in a rekindled friendship with boyhood pal Travis. The two recall their past and Travis convinces Henry to smoke a celebratory joint. The timing couldn't be any worse. With the drug test coming up, Henry's future is all but doomed. He and Travis race to discover an easy way to beat the system but can come up with nothing that will work quickly or work thoroughly. Then, the proverbial light bulb moment: if they're going to fail the test, then so should everyone else. For once, fortune shines on the pair: a well-promoted bake sale is taking place on the day of the test. They decide to bake their own brownies, laced with marijuana, and ensure that most everyone in the school tests positive for drugs. There's only one problem: they need more weed! Henry and Travis slyly get some off a local grower known as "Psycho Ed" (Adrien Brody) who is said to produce the finest in the area. The two pull off the impossible and switch the brownies, but unintended consequences, unforeseeable circumstances, and plenty of new challenges arise, all of which will keep Travis and Henry on their toes and racing against time during what promises to be the most hectic day Morgan High School has ever seen.

All of this doesn't amount to much and certainly not to a very novel idea, but everything in HIGH School just manages to come together in a fairly tidy little package that's entertaining and somewhat juvenile but never insulting, boring, or too crude. It's very well balanced, taking its time to establish characters and see them through genuinely interesting arcs rather than just populate the movie with a bunch of forgettably generic nobodies who are nothing more than human props to advance to the next pot smoking scene. The script is even and usually subtly funny. This isn't a gut-busting Comedy, but the sly, effortless laughs come regularly and as a natural extension of the story and situations. Nothing feels forced or phony, whether one-shot gags or recurring humor, such as the stoned student who cannot find the administration office. There's strong camaraderie amongst the primary cast. Matt Bush and Sean Marquette seem like lifelong friends reacquainted, two people genuinely trying to save their skin and not robots advancing a plot. Their relationship and all the zaniness that follows plays as genuinely and smoothly as most any midlevel-plus Comedy could hope. Michael Chiklis takes his Principal Gordon so far over-the-top that the ridiculousness of the entire character becomes one of the great highlights in the movie, while Sebastian Saleem's turn as the snotty, stuck-up would-be valedictorian is the film's best performance of arguably its finest character. This is not groundbreaking Comedy, and it's not a movie that's going to redefine its genre, but it's the most balanced, honest, and entertaining Stoner Comedy to come around in quite a while

HIGH School Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

HIGH School features a dazzling 1080p Blu-ray transfer. Anchor Bay's latest is one of the studio's finest yet. It's a remarkably filmic, accurate, natural video presentation that offers crisp, consistent, and complex details all around the frame. Whether intricate skin textures, highly detailed clothes, odds and ends around the school, brick walls, or concrete surfaces, the transfer reveals most everything in the movie with pinpoint accuracy. The image is equally clear and naturally sharp, very well-defined and hardly even a hint soft. Colors aren't blinding but instead true to life. There's a good, lifelike array within the school, with all the shades balanced and never dull or over pumped, arguably just a hair warm at times but pleasantly so. Black levels are rock-solid, and flesh tones are natural at every turn. There's no major wear and tear or unwanted bouts of banding, aliasing, or edge enhancement. This is a wonderful high definition presentation that will satisfy all viewers.

HIGH School Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

HIGH School puffs out a technically proficient yet sonically unremarkable Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. There's a consistent sense of clarity emanating from the track. It handles all of the film's mostly-limited elements to satisfaction, maintaining a rather confined range but doing well to deliver music, dialogue, and effects with ease. Music stays primarily the responsibility to the front channels, but plays with a decent spread away from the middle. The side speakers additionally carry a few minor but effective and necessary mood- and environment-setting sound elements, such as a light din in a school hallway or or a minor echoing sensation inside the gymnasium. Listeners will be hard-pressed to find more than a few scattered surround sound moments of note. Dialogue is even and accurate, firmly grounded in the center channel and never lost to any musical or supportive elements. This is a very simple track, one that lacks charisma or any notable elements, but it's clear and refined, a good example of a sturdy lossless soundtrack.

HIGH School Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

HIGH School contains the following three bonus features:

• Audio Commentary: Executive Producer/Writer/Director John Stalberg, Jr. opens with a discussion of the score and the trio of composers brought in to make the film's music. He discusses plot details, shooting locales, visual effects, character dynamics and actor performances, drug dynamics and details of the overdosed brownies, the challenges of various aspects of the shoot and the filmmaking process, nitty-gritty technical details of the shoot, and plenty more. This is a good, all-around track that covers a wide-range of elements. Fans should definitely give it a listen.
• Deleted Scenes (1080p, 12:31).
• Trailer (1080p, 2:32).

HIGH School Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

What's special about HIGH School is how well it works just taking the simple route. It's not overcooked, half-baked (ha ha), amateurish, or excessive. It's balanced and practical, a fun little slice of high school escapism that's as harmless as these sorts of movies can be. It's very well acted; evenly directed; and built on the foundation that is a tight, consistent, and enjoyable script. It's probably not destined to be the next genre cult classic or go down as the quintessential Stoner flick, but this is a quality under-the-radar motion picture that genre fans should love. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of HIGH School features very good video, adequate audio, and a couple of extras. Recommended.