High School

High School follows straight-laced student Henry Burke (Matt Bush) as he submits to the prodding of his stoner buddy (Sean Marquette’s Travis Breaux) and reluctantly agrees to sample marijuana for the first time, with problems ensuing as his school’s principal (Michael Chiklis’ Leslie Gordon) announces that anyone caught with drugs in their system will immediately be expelled – which forces Henry and Travis to take the rather extreme step of getting every single student at the school high (ie if nobody passes the test, Henry will be free and clear). It’s an outlandish yet promising setup that’s employed to consistently underwhelming effect by director John Stalberg, as the filmmaker, working from a script cowritten with Erik Linthorst and Stephen Susco, has infused the proceedings with a routine and conventional feel that’s compounded by a pervasive emphasis on hopelessly stale elements (eg Chiklis’ square, stodgy character could’ve come from a template for movies of this ilk). And although the movie briefly picks up as Henry and Travis initially come up with their preposterous plan, High School suffers from an increasingly stagnant, wheel-spinning midsection that triggers its transformation from passable comedy to interminable disaster. Of course, such concerns would be easy enough to overlook were any of this actually funny – with Stalberg’s inability to elicit even a single laugh ultimately cementing the film’s place as a fairly worthless endeavor.

*1/2 out of ****