Growing Op (2008)

I have a weakness for comedies that involve marijuana. Woody Allen's Sleeper is my favourite comedy of all time. JPod made me hoot. Stacey Keach slowly turning into a lizard in Nice Dreams is one of the funniest comedic ideas ever. Peter Sellers and Herbert Lomb, with wax face melting while high on laughing gas is the scene in movies most likely to make me get the uncontrollable giggles (I know it was not marijuana, but its the same sort of idea).Growing Op is about a left wing authoritarian father somewhat like Ward Clever who grows marijuana for a living in his kitchen in the middle of an upper class neighbourhood with a rather stodgy teenage son. The premise is ripe with comic potential. Unfortunately, the movie hardly exploits any of it.It a formulaic story about a dorky guy, Quinn, who lusts after the girl, puts up with hazing, then gets her. The marijuana growing is really just a backdrop.There are two mildly villainous characters, his rival, Philip, a conceited, dazzlingly handsome blond boy (still photos don't do him justice), played by Jon Cor and Quinn's younger sister, played by Katie Boland, who wears garish clothes and makeup, who bullies him.Philip has the best line in the movie when he explains he will not use violence against Quinn in his rivalry because otherwise has father would not send him to law school.These villains are fun, but barely on screen enough to let you relish them. As in any teen movie, there are a number of preposterously shallow, air head girls.Father is not funny, just annoying. Rosanna Arquette, as Mom, gets a few good scenes, but she is basically wasted. In a comedy, unexpected things should happen. This move is far too realistic and boring.There is a fair bit of obligatory soft porn between the two leads. Neither of them was particularly sexy, so for me it just felt embarrassing. Even the actors gave out the vibe they could hardly wait to get it over with. Rachael has a strange way of smiling sometimes that reminds me of Mr. Burns in The Simpsons. It is quite off-putting, as if she were an imbecile. I am not sure if it was intentional.

Just saw it. An excellent movie. Original idea, good play, good scenes. I don't smoke weed , but here they made us to see how is not only people's life, but and life of the grass. They show how stupid are those who just smoke it, without any idea about. And the end of the movie - brilliant! I didn't wait it'g gonna over like this, not only happy end, or tragic. I had no idea what to think. I't beautiful, happy, sad. I loved this. My mark - 10+... P.S. I enjoyed more that there was no stupid thing of making film, where producers make movie worst. Like all team was one man, was thinking about one thing only, doing it how they can, but trying to do it well...

Absolutely Amazing!!! This film was beautifully shot in a beautiful city! The characters were pristine and the storyline was very original (despite what the Toronto $tar says). I would highly recommend seeing if you get a chance. I will definitely own this DVD as soon as it's available. As a side note, I don't see any resemblance between this film and others. I would compare this film to a lot of others, but for good reason. I would compare the characteristics of the film to others such as Ted Demme's Blow, or Jenji Kohan's Weeds for the sole reason that they are favorite Films and Series. And just F.Y.I, There's room for all three on the top shelf of my DVD collection! =)This film is an inspiration to me as an aspiring filmmaker so thank you very much! Brad

Saw this tonight at the film's premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival. The crowd was great, and we were laughing our heads off all the way through.As a recently-graduated homeschooler myself, it was amusing to see an outsider's (highly inaccurate in my case, but hilarious) take on the practice. Some of the questions raised in the film are questions I ask myself often.Kudos to the excellent cast, especially Steven Yaffee as the main character, and Wallace Langham as his father, who both really get into their characters and make us feel their emotions.There's a plot twist near the end that seems a bit ridiculous and unnecessary at first, but may make more sense once you think it over.All in all, a great film, and it's always nice to see films from Atlantic Canada that are just good fun to watch.