1. The Big Lebowski (1998) Years before the Coen brothers got all serious and Cormac McCarthy on us, they created the greatest stoner in the history of cinema -- Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski: a white-Russian-swilling, bathrobe-in-the-middle-of-the-day-wearing, pin-striking, ass-kicking, Julianne-Moore-shtupping masterwork of a human being, man.

2. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) A trip for some late night munchies has some unexpected consequences but perhaps the most surprising thing about Harold & Kumar is just how smart and well-observed it is, painting one of the most true-to-life and accurate portraits of young stonerdom. That and the resurgence of The Actor Currently Known as NPH, Neil Patrick Harris.

3. Pineapple Express (2008) I saw this movie in theaters three times when it first came out. Meaning I paid to see this movie three times. And in the age of the illegal download that's saying something. Why did I go back so often? Two words: James Franco. Sure I loved the completely gratuitous violence, the stupid (but still side-splitting) jokes and of course Rosie Perez as a foul-mouthed pocket-sized cop, but Franco made the movie in a, yes, career-defining role as the kind-hearted but dim-witted dealer Saul. Of course, said career till then was mostly as Peter Parker's sidekick and one season as Daniel Desario, but I digress.

4. Friday (1995) In the vast Ice Cube film canon, the original Friday looms large. Thanks to his loudmouth stoner friend Smokey, played by professional loudmouth Chris Tucker, Ice Cube's Curtis faces certain doom unless he and Smokey can come up with $200 -- it is 1995, after all -- to pay back the drug dealer, Big Worm. A series of trials and tribulations contribute to Curtis' life, but in the end it turns out to be a good day. And he didn't even have to use his AK.

5. Rolling Kansas (2003) When their town runs dry, a group of friends embark on a road trip to a fabled, government-owned marijuana farm to find their fortune. Directed and co-written by Thomas Haden Church (of Wings and Sideways fame) and featuring a hilarious cameo by Rip Torn, this little indie gem is about as delightful as any great high.

6. Dazed & Confused (1993) What feats of thespian fortitude it took for noted bongo enthusiast Matthew McConaughey to portray stoner David Wooderson we'll never know. But it's all right, all right, all right, because even though we all get older, this movie stays the same: awesome.

7. How High (2001) Redman and Method Man proudly carried the torch that Ice Cube sparked and passed years earlier with one of the dumbest/most creative plots ever for a stoner movie: using his dead friend's ashes as weed fertilizer, Mef smokes the resulting bud with Red before taking their THCs, Testing for Higher Credentials-- see what I mean. All through the movie the two get fucked up and fuck up higher education, along the way giving Lisa Turtle something to do.

8. Half Baked (1998) From the minds of Chappelle's Show creators, Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, Half Baked was born. In order to bail one of their idiot friends out of jail, three other idiots sell weed stolen by Chappelle's Thurgood from his job as a janitor in a pharmaceutical lab. There are a lot of high hijinks, some of which have not aged well, but the best parts are Chappelle pulling double duty as pothead rapper Sir Smokes-a-Lot and cameos from marijuana magistrates like Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson.

9. Reefer Madness (1936) Back when marijuana -- the devil's leaf, wacky tobaccky, the dreaded reefer -- was perceived as the downfall of Western Civilization, Hollywood reacted in kind with this propaganda film meant to scare the youth of the day away from the the jazz, the hooch and the dangerous Mary Jane. Decades later, the hysteria is just plain hysterical as the lives of its thinly-drawn protagonists literally go to pot.

10. Smiley Face (2007) Following his dark, critically-acclaimed ode to male hustling, Mysterious Skin, Gregg Araki decided to lighten things up a little with Smiley Face, starring Scary Movie stalwart Anna Faris as a perpetually stoned actress whose life gets flushed down the toilet thanks to a series of increasingly worse misadventures after eating her roommate's pot brownies. The film is by no means perfect and kind of drifts along aimlessly -- it is a stoner film after all -- but it's at least worth watching for Farris' perfectly dazed performance.

There really has been a dearth of funny ladies in Hollywood for a while…at least until recently. Women were usually the straight man, the eye candy, there for the lead guy to pursue, to impress, to harry and confound. Or, god forbid, the plucky sidekick.

Then an Emma Stone comes along. Or a Mila Kunis. Or an Anna Faris. Young, attractive girls who won’t stand around while the boys get all the laughs. So thank you Tina Fey, for making it okay for ladies to laugh again.

Though earning rave reviews (but disappointingly no Oscar nod) for Black Swan, Mila still loves doing comedies, saying:

“They’re just as hard, if not harder, to make work, compared with a drama. You work 17 hours a day, and you have to try to make things different and funny and relatable onscreen all at the same time.”

You’ve hit the nail on the head, Kunis. Comedy is hard — just think of the last time someone won an Oscar for a comedic performance. Though I heard The Blind Side was funny for all the wrong reasons.

Mila will next flex her comedic muscle alongside Emmy-winning actor and occasional popstar Justin Timberlake in Friends with Benefits, directed by Easy A‘s Will Gluck.

But before then we’ll see Mila on fashion’s biggest stage, the Oscar red carpet. I hope her gays are at work securing the best look…because I’m ready to slip in at a momen’t notice. Just sayin’.

*(Behag – befriend, but concerning a fag and his hag; see also hetero male equivalent, bestag)

Link Love: Los Angeles Times Magazine

It’s nice to see Anna Faris in clothes and looking like she has more than three brain cells. I don’t know who’s her agent but can someone tell them that the whole House Bunny, looking like a pin up in mens magazine thing is so not cool. Seriously, funny chicks make for bad fantazies cause you always think there’s gonna be a joke about body hair or pussy farts while your performing your nasty. Thank good someone is trying to mke this girl seem like she has some sense, fashion sense that is…

LINKAGE: Anna Faris in ELLE magazine April 2009

Anna Faris. The Smart Bombshell? Wait, doesn’t she normally play dumb in all the roles shes in?

LINKAGE: Arena Magazine April 2009 (Last Issue) : Anna Faris

After:

Upon the release of her new film, The House Bunny, it’s been tough for us to remember Anna’s Scary Movie days. But boy were they there! Anna was no blonde with a fashionable approach to style, but she sure was a brunette who loved her leather pants. Thanks to a fabulous stylist, Anna’s been looking better than ever. Strutting the red carpet, Anna has recently been camera ready 24/7. She sure owes her stylist a big thank you!