Half Baked

Directed by Tamra Davis, Half Baked follows friends Thurgood (Dave Chappelle), Scarface (Guillermo Díaz), and Brian (Jim Breuer) as they concoct a get-rich-quick scheme to spring their buddy (Harland Williams’ Kenny) from prison. There’s little doubt that Half Baked fares best in its silly yet watchable first half, as filmmaker Davis has infused the proceedings with an irresistibly easygoing atmosphere that’s perpetuated by the affable efforts of its stars and smattering of genuinely funny interludes. (It’s clear, in terms of the latter, that a brief Jerry Maguire-inspired bit remains an obvious high-water-mark in terms of laughs.) The scattershot bent of Chappelle and Neal Brennan’s screenplay paves the way for an increasingly erratic midsection, however, as Half Baked is, to a progressively problematic extent, dominated by sequences that are simply not as compelling or hilarious as Davis has surely intended – which does, in turn, ensure that the picture runs out of steam long before it arrives at its hopelessly underwhelming third act. The end result is a mostly underwhelming comedy that feels long even at just 82 minutes, which is a shame, certainly, given the potential here for an agreeably silly piece of work.

** out of ****