Review

Totally Biased Fan Review:

High Hopes is a clever comedy with a great cast that was robbed of the release and distribution it deserved. Bottoms Up, a lesser Mewes offering made in the same year, was all over cable. Why?  It had Paris Hilton (rolls eyes).

Recently dumped by his actress girlfriend, Tom Murphy (Corin Nemec) is a struggling actor who is desperate to get a role in the new James Bond flick and find a way to finance his friend Ben's movie. When his roommate Quebert (Jason Mewes) discovers that his "weed connect" Rocko (Michael DeLorenzo) has a briefcase full of stolen government marijuana, the roommates hatch a plan to steal it and collect the reward money. Meanwhile, Ben (David Faustino) has been saddled with babysitting his girlfriend's brother Wendell (Jason Marsden) who is in a drooling, semi-catatonic state as the result of a clinical drug trial gone wrong.

While its been pigeonholed as a "stoner comedy," High Hopes is far too ambitious to be classified as such. The drug caper is only one of several intertwined subplots. The movie's greatest strength is in the characters, who are totally credible. The cast chemistry and sharp dialogue were enough to propel the somewhat far-fetched storylines.

A lot of braindead reviewers complained about the lack of nudity and crude punchlines. They totally missed the satire that I enjoyed: the running gag that saying "I'm a producer" is the surefire way to pick up chicks, Tom and Ben's total disinterest in Julie's directorial ambitions, "Can I get a copy of this for my reel?" and the whole Carly the Starfucker character.

High Hopes has its flaws. The writers cooked up some great storylines but couldn't quite acheive the perfect flow. Portions of the story were abrupt or left hanging in the wind. Luckily, they saved face with some good twists in the conclusion.

The Good:

• The scene where Tom gets dumped... hilarious.
• Cool cameos by Robert Rodriguez, Andy Dick and Diamond Dallas Page.
• The scene at the Cuban restaurant where Mewes is hypnotizing Wendell with the glass of Coke.
• Jay Mewes hitting on the girl at the bar.
• Tye and the Viagra.

The Bad:

• The DVD cover art: first of all, some of the cast members look demented (especially Jay Mewes). Somebody went a little crazy with the photoshopping. Also, Corin isn't even on the DVD cover and he's the star of the movie, wtf?
• Portions of the movie look really washed out and desaturated.

The Ugly:

• Nothing ugly to report.

Recommendation:

I loved this film, I laughed a lot. Mewes fans won't be disappointed. Corin and Dave's fans should enjoy it as well. Buy the DVD.

Trivia

High Hopes was shot in June of 2005 in 11 days using a Panavision F-900.

Corin landed the role of Tom with a little help from his older sister Stacia (who was an assistant director on the film). Corin called Dave Faustino, who liked the script and signed on. Dave then called Jay Mewes who also ended up in the film. In other words, the actors cast the movie in a weird domino effect.

The scene where Tom auditions for the part of "The Freshman" was shot in the filmmaker's production office. Producer Danny Trejo's wife Debbie played the casting director.

The restaurant scene was shot at Versailles Cuban Restaurant in Encino, CA. The garlic chicken is the house speciality. The restaurant has since been redecorated and looks nothing like how it did in the movie.

Jay Mewes was worried that Matt Damon might be upset with him calling him "a hack" in the film.

Jay Mewes smoked phony herbal "prop pot," in the film, but in the DVD commentary Cecily Gambrell stated that "he does know his way around a bong, that's for sure."

Binky van Bilderbeek did the actual Sean Connery voice which was dubbed over Gavin Grissom's portrayal of Arnie. Binky previously appeared opposite Corin in Raging Sharks (2005).

Tom, Ben and Quebert's house was located in the flight path of the Van Nuys airport. Shooting was frequently halted by the noise of planes flying overhead.

The role of Mr. Lewis was played by famous director Robert Rodriguez (El mariachi, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City), who happens to be a cousin of producer Danny Trejo.

When Tom says he'll talk to Connery about Darby O'Gill and the Little People, this is a reference to a 1959 Disney film which starred Connery (in a singing role).

The green glow coming out of the briefcase is an homage to the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

The scene where Jay Mewes hits on the girl at the bar was totally improvised.

All the bongs and paraphrenilia were provided by a shop called Ozone, owned by yet another cousin of Danny Trejo.

The scene where they dollied around the guys playing poker is an homage to Resevoir Dogs.

Edward Furlong did the role of Tye as a favor to Danny Trejo whom he'd worked with on The Crow 4. He brought his actual girlfriend Rachael Bella along to play his on-screen girlfriend. The "tent" he's pitching was actually a water bottle with a sock over it shoved down his pants.

Jennifer Finnigan, who played Morgan (Tom's ex-girlfriend) and Maeve Quinlan, who played Rocko's neighbor, both had long runs on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. They appeared in about 100 episodes together.

The creators of High Hopes actually contacted Sean Connery's agent in an attempt to get him to do his own voice. The agent didn't even pass on the offer to Connery when he heard how little compensation was involved.

Articles

Corin Nemec: High Hopes in Hollywood - The 213 For old school TV fans, you may recognize the name Corin Nemec as the quirky kid wonder Parker Lewis from the old 80's hit show Parker Lewis Can't Lose. But ...	High Hopes DVD Review - Real Movie News This film really markets itself as a star studded film, or at least stars that you probably once had heard of. In addition to the main cast, we get brief ...	High Hopes DVD Review - IGN We didn't have high hopes, but ... Corin Nemec stars as Tom Murphy, an up-and-coming actor hoping to land a big part in a new Hollywood production. Tom and his slacker ...
Corin Nemec: High Hopes in Hollywood - The 213 High Hopes DVD Review - Real Movie News High Hopes DVD Review - IGN