Homegrown

The first half hour of "Homegrown" was rather boring and not absorbing, but as the film progressed, so did my interest in the characters and the plot. Several scenes are really scary and you fear for the main characters who you actually grow attached to. The story is about three hired hands on a hidden illegal marijuana farm in southern California. They witness the murder of the farm's owner, Malcolm (John Lithgow), and they take over the weed for their own. The three rather simple-minded farm hands soon get swept up into a scary world of mafia and local interest, while all of the time trying to convince everyone that Malcolm is still alive. While the movie had several faults and a slow beginning, it turned out to be worthwhile. 7/10 stars.

A fun romp...a lot of good twists and turns! (and we were not even baked!)

Didn't know this movie even existed until watching the extra trailers on a Monty Python DVD...(oddly it was there along with The City of Lost Children, and The Adventures of Baron Munchauhsen)

The plot keeps you wondering throughout.

The acting was awesome...Hank Azaria shows his talent again, Bill Bob is Billy Bob...(wecis?)

Definitely worth watching.

"Homegrown" is a look at marijuana farming in northern California, and the often unpleasant things that go along with it. The cast is pretty funny, but the whole movie seems a little bit like they got together for the weekend to party and just filmed what happened. In a way, the movie seems a little bit more relevant nowadays, as political action committees challenge the government's "war on drugs". The best part is really the end scene; "Saving Grace" has a similar ending. Overall, it's an OK way to pass time. Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Ryan Phillippe, Hank Azaria, Kelly Lynch, John Lithgow, Judge Reinhold, Jamie Lee Curtis and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

This is a pretty good movie heavily influenced by John Huston's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" with Humphrey Bogart, but original in its content and conflict. It is not so much a comedy as a quirky drama, like Treasure, though its point is not as sharp at the end. You should see Treasure (again) before or after seeing this.

Well, it's a weird movie. That Stephen Gyllenhaal seems to LIKE weirdness, really.

The fact that the film is billed as a comedy should not be considered an indictment. A film is made because someone decided to try to share this particular story with you--NOT because he wanted to add another movie to some given drawer/shelf in a video rental store, nor because he wanted to make things easy for the marketing department.

I know the film wasn't well-promoted, but looking at the movie itself, I think it's actually a pretty innovative piece of work.

What really makes the film work is the ambiguity and (ok, I admit it) PARANOIA of it.

If you've found yourself wondering what any particular scene adds to this movie, I fear you've fallen victim to lack of imagination. The characters never know "who knows what," and that is the single most essential premise of the movie. The film uses a far stronger perspective of first-person perspective than such bubble-gum fare as the Matrix. When the hapless dope-growers meet the first distributor they're looking to do business with, they don't know whether he's "in on everything." When BB Thornton talks to Sienna, he has no idea what SHE knows about the situation...and in fact, no matter how you choose to interpret that particular scene, you really ought to acknowledge that perhaps the "reality" (cinematically speaking) is the complete opposite of what you first thought when you watched it. Almost every meaningful dramatic scene in the film is completely ambiguous in possible interpretation. At least up until the climax.

This is a film that truly does get better with repeated viewings, IF you have the patience for a movie that doesn't spell everything out for you. If you want a heavy musical score and a didactic moral "point," stick with Spielberg. He'll never disappoint. If you want to WONDER what the characters are really up to in a film, check this one out.

The cast is terrific, the story is novel if not earthshaking, and the polish and presentation are first-rate. It has a few minor editorial flaws--I could've done without Lithgow's late appearance, or some of the "feel-good" moments laced into the script early on, but I certainly don't think someone else would have done a better job with the concept and script...unless Kubrick or Fassbinder were still alive.

8.5 out of 10.