A Loucura de Mary Juana

Reefer Madness should give us all new hope for the return of the movie-musical genre and the sweet days of Rocky Horror-style comedy! I love it when a musical is adapted from stage to screen, and the director takes full advantage of things that can be done in a movie that cannot be realized on stage. Reefer Madness takes full advantage of its film medium while still maintaining an unfailing sense of theatricality. The direction, choreography and vocal performances are fantastic.

This awesome movie is flawlessly cast and realized. It's a must-see for any fans of musicals, intelligent comedy and, well, weed.

I'm SO used to being disappointed by underwritten roles, songs, plot & dialogue, phoned-in performances, etc., in most of what I see in films and T.V. lately... but THIS is SUBLIME! Though it's hilarious and campy, the lyrics are witty and demand intelligence, and the music's terrific, as is every single performance. But there just isn't any actor or aspect of the show to single out as brilliant; every moment of Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical is no less than perfect! My husband, my friends and I haven't been able to stop watching it (it was on Showtime On Demand 'til Saturday), nor can we get the songs out of our heads.... Surely Showtime is going to rerun this on DVD, and (PLEASE!) release it on DVD A.S.A.P. Do yourself a favor and catch it.(And no, I'm in no way affiliated... just a film "buff"!)

For those of you who get Showtime, watch this show! For those who do not, cozy up to someone who has the channel, promise to bring really yummy munchies, and wheedle an invitation to watch it. This movie - think of it as South Park guys Trey and Parker given free license to create a live musical - exceeded every expectation for an "originals" picture. The songs were lively, the dance numbers way over the top. There were a couple of slow moments early in the movie but they were only there to contrast with the madness to come. This should have been released to theaters, but I suspect that someday it will be. Destined to become a cult classic, this film seems to have been made to become the replacement for the moldy Rocky Horror Picture Show for serial Saturday midnight airings. Get out your fake blood, your garish evening dresses, your tacky lingerie, your devil's horns and your Jesus robes. This movie will be around for a long, long while.

People that didn't like this...just don't like musicals and that's fine. In this day in age where people are so ready to cast musicals off into the film industry abyss, it is great to see something like this come along. If you are turned off by the subject matter you just don't get it. See the original "instructional" short and you will, all too quickly, understand that this movie is right on the money. Big brother government + media fear = America of today and back in the 30's. Just think back to last years terror threat scenarios and you will begin to understand how our government perfers to control by fear and manipulation. Not only is this movie a riot, to me this movie captured the essence of paranoia and "quirkyness" the first one really had. It is well written and combines the best aspects of movies like "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Little Shop of Horrors", both of which are classics as I'm sure this one is destined to become.

Tonight on show time I watched the pure genius that is Reefer Madness! As musical theatre lover I appreciated the movie right at the beginning when the school play was "Green Grows The Lilacs" which is the play that the musical "Oklahoma" was based on. Not only though was this movie hysterical the whole way through, but the music was incredible and the lyrics and book were outstanding, but on top of it all IT WAS SMART! To take an old movie like Reefer Madness and turn it into a musical and a political satire was pure brilliant! All the performances were outstanding as well, but to me Ana Gyster stole the show! She is just incredible, her voice, her comedic timing, and every little nuance she adds to make that character hers! Christian Campell was also amazing! In fact there was no performance or part of this movie that was wrong...if you're smart and have a good sense of humor you'll LOVE IT! And if I could rate this movie higher than a 10 I would! P.S Rob Torti rocks my world!