by Shirley Halperin and Steve Bloom
Abrams, $18.95, 336 pages
It’s Friday night after a long week of brain-freezing work and you need the perfect movie to restore your laid-back peace of mind. Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide should fit the bill. With over 700 films listed, it’s no doubt the most comprehensive and well-researched guide to all movies that either have marijuana or other drugs central to the story or are fun to watch while stoned. Authors Shirley Halperin and Steve Bloom divided it into seven easy-to-use sections that cover comedies, sci-fi/fantasy/horror, action/sports, dramas, animated, music and documentaries. Included are such nuggets as the fact that 1978 was a banner year that launched the stoner genre with the memorable films Animal House and Up In Smoke. Did you know that the silent film High On the Range was released in 1924 and featured Cowboy Dave smoking a joint? That tidbit will impress your friends! The films of Woody Allen, Cheech & Chong and Judd Apatow are well represented as well as hundreds of others. Even if you are not a stoner, this book is a must-have for any serious movie buff and it would make a great gift for that certain someone.
Reviewed by Diane Prokop