PLOT: Determined to find out the true effects of marijuana on the human body, stand-up comedian and former Stoner of the Year Doug Benson documents his experience avoiding pot for 30 days and then consuming massive amounts of the drug for 30 days. More than just an amusing story of one man's quest to get superhigh, this documentary also examines the hotly contested debate over medical marijuana use.


I would call this movie, a mildly entertaining flick that ultimately comes to no real conclusions about its subject matter. Modeled after the similarly named documentary, "Supersize Me", here we have a comedian, Doug Benson, who makes a joke, saying he's going to give up pot for 30 days, and then smoke it heavily for 30 days, as another documentary that could sell millions. When a filmmaker hears of this joke, he approaches Mr. Benson, and off they went.

On the health front, several tests are conducted, including lung capacity, memory, and psychic. These tests are conducted at least twice, at the end of each period of 30 days (drug free/drug full). Ultimately, we realize that 30 days is not sufficient to study the real effects of a drug on the human body. His lung capacity did improve a little while not smoking, and his memory did go down a little when he was very high, but nothing that couldn't have been chance.

The more interesting part of this documentary is in its examination of medical marijuana in California, including its battles against the DEA, which will go into 'dispensaries' and shut them down despite California law. Unfortunately, the documentary ultimately is not about this, and doesn't spend a lot of time on it.

Mostly we are treated with Doug Benson, his stand-up comedy routines (which are mediocre), interviews, shots of him smoking or getting tested. You'll also see other famous (and not so famous) comedians, giving their opinions on smoking pot or on Doug Benson's film idea. It starts off alright but you get weary of it by the end of this movie, and you come to no real conclusions.

Strangely the movie never mentions any serious testing ever done on Marijuana use in a serious medical journal. I'm sure there's lots of testing out there, and since the movie obviously approaches this from a pro-marijuana angle you'd think there would be some mentions of serious tests.

All in all, I would say see this film if you like stand-up comedy and smoking pot. If you want a scientific look at pot's affects on the human body ... this really isn't the film (despite trying to be). It simply doesn't have a large enough scope to have any real conclusions. You can see how his personality changes (a little bit), but that's about it. Sadly, the political side, which is the most interesting offering from this documentary, is merely a sub-plot that comes up occasionally.

6 out of 10 Stars.