No, you’re not insanely high right now. Well, maybe you are but the headline you’ve read is real. Half Baked 2, a sequel to the 1998 weed comedy that starred Dave Chappelle, has completed production and will open digitally next year. And no, Chappelle doesn’t have a damn thing to do with it and the cast is largely newcomers. However, there are a couple of returning names, including Rachel True as Mary Jane.
True is pretty much the biggest name involved with Half Baked 2. She’ll be joined by the returning Harland Williams, who played…Mary Jane Potman. Yes, that was her actual name. The irony is that Mary Jane didn’t like people who did drugs, so Chappelle’s character Thurgood Jenkins had to conceal his extraordinary weed habit from her. His idiotic friends, like Williams’ Kenny Davis, made that difficult.
The film will actually be led by Dexter Darden (The Maze Runner) as Thurgood’s son JR, joined by Ramona Young (Never Have I Ever), Ash Santos (True Story), Joel Courtney (Super 8), and David Koechner (Anchorman). Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) and comedian Jeff Ross will also make appearances.
The story follows JR and his buddies as they try to come up with money for the funeral of another friend who died from smoking the most powerful blunt in the world.
Behind the camera is Michael Tiddes, who is usually attached to the hip of Marlon Wayans, directing him in five movies since 2013’s A Haunted House and most recently in 2019’s Sextuplets. The script is by MacGyver and 21 Jump Street actor/comedian Justin Hires.
This is probably going to be awful, but then I would say that the original Half Baked, which I loved in my early 20s, doesn’t really hold up, either. Curiosity will probably get the better of me, though.
