Stoned Age, The (1994)

The Stoned Age, like Dazed and Confused and American Gigolo before that, tells the story of a couple of dudes as it unfolds throughout a single night. This genre typically follows its protagonists through a right of passage of some sort (like graduating high school). In The Stoned Age, our heroes Joe and Hubbs are on a single mission to score with some hot chicks.

Crump, the town bully, has a couple of fine chicks from out of town ready and waiting to party. Word about the chicks-in-waiting spreads throughout the town, eventually reaching Joe and Hubbs. The two of them then plot to beat the rest of the towns teenage horny suitors to the chicks lair. Along the way the dudes crank some tunes, score some hooch, and out weasel the competition on their way toward the ultimate goal.

On the surface The Stoned Age appears to be a pretty light-hearted film. Its funny, the guys are goofy, and the adventure is inherently silly. But after further reflection, The Stoned Age shows those who may have forgotten the grittier side of being a teenager. Theres an awful lot of backstabbing and screwing of friends that, regrettably, many of us can relate to. Watching the on-screen friends betraying one another in the quest to get laid was painful to watch, now having hindsight to realize that the your friends will still be there long after the names and faces of those hot chicks have been wiped from your memory. There are a lot of universal teen-truths presented during the flick, such as he with the car gets the girls. Or, as Hubbs (driver of the Blue Torpedo) eloquently explains to zit-faced Tack, information without transportation equals dick.

The cast consists of largely unknowns, which works in the films advantage as viewers arent distracted by known faces (Taylor Negron as the perpetually-discoing liquor store clerk may be the lone exception). As the story unfolded I found myself liking and disliking different characters throughout the adventure. Just like in real life, it was sometimes hard to decide just who the good guys and bad guys were.

The DVDs extras are pretty sparse save for a nice commentary track provided by the writing and directing team, during which the two share some of the sources of the stories and characters that appear in the film.

I suspect that no matter where your social class fell in high school, youll find something in The Stoned Age that you can relate to. The problem is, will it be something you like?

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