How High (2001)

How High
DirectorJesse Dylan
Budget$12 million
Box office$31.3 million

Plot

Silas and Jamal are two underachieving stoners preparing to take their "THC" exam—a parody of the SAT and a reference to marijuana's active ingredient. Silas has a new strain of marijuana, grown using the ashes of his recently deceased friend Ivory. Jamal has a cigar but no weed, while Silas has weed but no cigar. They team up, smoke together, and discover that doing so summons Ivory's ghost, visible only to them. During the exam, Ivory gives them all the answers, allowing them to score perfect results.

Several colleges offer them scholarships, but none seem interesting until the Chancellor of Harvard, under pressure to increase minority enrollment, convinces them to attend. Once at Harvard, they meet Bart, the snobbish rowing team captain; his girlfriend Lauren; their silent, thieving friend known as I Need Money; and their roommates Jeffrey and Tuan. Dean Carl Cain informs them they must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA to remain enrolled.

Jamal joins the rowing team to compete with Bart, while Silas signs up for botany to refine his marijuana-growing skills. Both also take black history. With Ivory's help, they easily pass all their classes. Silas develops a romantic relationship with Lauren, and Jamal begins dating Jamie, the daughter of the U.S. vice president.

As the semester goes on, their disruptive antics—pranks and petty theft—anger Bart, Jeffrey (who's pledging a final club), and Dean Carl Cain. Things unravel after a raucous Halloween party when Gerald, a volunteer campus officer whose bike was destroyed by I Need Money, steals and smokes the Ivory plant, cutting off their access to Ivory's ghost.

Desperate to stay in school, Silas starts working on a truth serum for his botany final, hoping it will earn him an A and secure his spot next semester. His experiments repeatedly fail. Jamal suggests they dig up a "smart dead guy" and smoke his remains—eventually targeting John Quincy Adams—but this plan also fails. They try studying, but still fail most of their midterms.

Meanwhile, Gerald—now a heavy stoner—has a vision of Ivory, who persuades him to return the remaining bit of the plant to Silas and Jamal. However, the supply is too small to help them improve their grades. Just as they prepare to give up, Jeffrey reminds Silas that success with his truth serum would guarantee his continuation at Harvard. Silas finally perfects the serum using the last of Ivory's leaves.

Though their grades exclude them from the alumni party, Jamie invites them as her dates. At the event, Silas tests his serum, and it works. Lauren presents a discovery among Benjamin Franklin's artifacts that shocks the crowd—a historical bong. Ivory appears with Franklin's ghost to confirm its authenticity. Dean Carl Cain is outraged, but the Chancellor, fed up, fires him.

As the party continues, Dean Carl Cain returns with an axe in a failed attempt to attack Silas and Jamal. He is stopped by Secret Service agents. In the end, both are allowed to stay at Harvard. Jamie's father approves of her relationship with Jamal, and Lauren leaves Bart for Silas, claiming Bart "can't satisfy her."

Cast

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