Stoner Movies, Ranked by Metascore
How high do the scores go? In the gallery above, we rank 60* stoner films from cinema history—including the most infamous examples of the genre as well as more obscure titles. (The very concept of "stoner film" is surprisingly malleable, and while we tried to include films that are oft-mentioned as belonging to the genre, you'll likely disagree with a few inclusions or omissions. Also note that we intentionally omitted documentaries in order to keep the list from being unbearably long.)
All of the movies are ranked by Metascore, indicating how much critics liked each film, beginning with the worst-reviewed and building up to the most-acclaimed.
* Our original goal of 420 proved to be too ambitious.
Two San Fernando teens (Pauly Shore, Sean Astin) discover a frozen caveman (Brendan Fraser) in their backyard in this fairly terrible 1992 comedy. But even that low score actually makes it one of the better films featuring Shore (who plays a character named "Stoney," lest you question whether or not he plays a stoner) in a lead role.
“Encino Man is so puerile and sophomoric that, by comparison, 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' is 'Our Town,' and 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' is 'Gulliver's Travels.'” —Michael Snyder, San Francisco Chronicle