Homegrown: 3 BEERS (Good movie, minor problems)

Carter (Hank Azaria), Jack (Billy Bob Thorton), and Harlan (Ryan Phillippe) are employed by Malcolm (John Lithgow). Their job is to watch over Malcolm's multi-million dollar marijuana crop in Northern California. So when Malcolm is killed the three are not quite sure what to do next. They eventually decide to sell the weed and keep the profits while pretending Malcolm is still alive. Jack and Carter arrange to sell the crop to Danny (Jon Bon Jovi). To aid in the harvest they enlist the help of Lucy (Kelly Lynch), Cater's periodic love interest. As the time for the big sale draws near closer everyone is getting more and more paranoid and quite possibly for good reason.

Homegrown is a vastly different movie than the one portrayed in the trailers and commercials. While there is some of the silliness associated with drug movies, Homegrown is decidedly darker. If you are expecting a bunch of guys sitting around smoking and giggling there are some suprises in store. Actually since this is what I was anticipating the presence of a actual story was refreshing. It's fun to see how these hapless and oft clueless underlings deal with every workers fantasy, the death of their boss. This is a well writen film it keeps interests up and the felling of tension runs throughout. It's also well acted, Thorton and Azaria both gave good performances as did most of the crew. While it may be occasionally violent it is not gratuitous, it fits well into the story. Homegrown is at times a comedy and others a thriller, unlike many other films it succeeds in both respects making it a very enjoyable film.

Official Homegrown Page

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Photo from Columbia TriStar