**This post contains spoilers**
The Story- Nate Norman (Jonathan Daniel Brown) teams up with his best friend, Christopher (Kenny Wormald) to smuggle marijuana from Canada to Idaho. Motivated by dreams to provide a better life for his mother, Teressia (Amanda Tapping), and his little brother, Philip (Mark Hills), Nate relentlessly pursues the life of a drug kingpin.
In Canada, Nicole Grefard (Merritt Patterson) introduces Nate and Christopher (or “Topher”) to her father, John (John C. McGinely), her mother, Elke (Christina Cox), and her little sister, Ella. John, the mastermind behind growing and selling a high quality strain of marijuana, becomes Nate and Topher’s trusted supplier. And Nate further strengthens his empire by forming a partnership with Barry Lerner (Ron Perlman).
Nate builds a team of runners, including Topher, Scuzz (Bryce Hodgson), and others. Millions are rolling in, as Nate’s team sneaks bricks of marijuana across the Canadian border. But Nate runs into some trouble during a feud with his rival, Brendan Butler (Aaron Yoo).
My Thoughts- Really? THIS guy? If you take one look at Nate Norman, you’d never guess he was capable of smoothly running a weed empire worth millions. Jonathan Daniel Brown delivers a convincing and good performance as Nate Norman. The nasally voice, Nate’s awkward demeanor, his attempts at trying to play it cool during Nate’s close calls, and Nate’s hilarious transition to being a more cocky drug kingpin. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a show-stealing performance, but there’s no denying Brown’s dedication to playing Nate Norman.
Ron Perlman brings a strong and commanding presence to Barry Lerner. The scene in the car, where Barry warns Nate about betraying him is terrific. Perlman is genuinely menacing, while Barry calmly threatens Nate. A good scene, with a bit of humor added to it, because Barry’s young and oblivious son is in the backseat, while Barry goes over the gory details for what’ll happen, if Nate flips on him.
John C. McGinely plays the enlightened weed supplier. Together, The Grefard Family shares a bond as a carefree and relaxed clan. They’re basically stoner hippies, and with limited screen time, McGinely really nails John for one of the best performances in the movie, easily.
Brendan Butler? Oh, boy. Kudos to Aaron Yoo for believably playing an egotistical and annoying shithead. Butler is obviously trying way too hard to be tough and crazy, because he’s a deeply insecure young man.
Nate’s empire crumbles, and he’s going to jail! Is it a big surprise? Well, no. You could see it all coming from a mile away. As soon as Topher starts complaining about Nate screwing him out of his fair share of the money, you know what’s coming.
Someone in the crew, who was trying to make some extra money on the side gets caught, and guess what? He chooses to be an informant to save his own ass. Of course, Kid Cannabis has a heavier comedic tone, but if you’ve seen enough crime dramas, you should know there’s never a happy ending for the big kingpin.
Although, I’ll give a thumbs up for how they presented the interrogations. Everyone in Nate’s crew turns on him. Topher is shown as the last one to expose Nate as the ringleader. Just going by his facial expressions, Topher looks like someone, who’s conflicted about giving up his friend, but he’s also angry and bitter about Nate treating him like another lackey, after they started the business together by themselves, while Topher was doing most of the groundwork and the heavy lifting. Remember, Topher is the one, who started the conversation with Nicole, a conversation that led both of them to John.
Clowns. They’re both clowns. It’s hard to believe Nate Norman and Brendan Butler were able to pull this off, building two empires, while raking in tons of cash. But I guess that’s the appeal of Kid Cannabis? The irony and the absurdity for two young guys, cosplaying as hardcore gangsters, works as a crazy story that’s almost too impossible to believe. And of course, when Nate finally realizes he’s way in over his head for trying to control his crew, while dodging the authorities, it’s too late.
Kid Cannabis follows a lot of the familiar tropes for movies based on a true crime story. I didn’t need to do any kind of research online, or use Google to figure out how Nate’s story ends. The mistrust between Nate and Topher, Topher questioning Nate’s leadership, crack’s in Nate’s crew, Nate’s greed, his ego, his carelessness, AND you add cocaine into the mix? Too many missteps and bad habits. It’s only a matter of time before it all comes back to bite you in the ass.
A strange real-life story, because I can at least understand why Nate chose a risky path. He’s a high school dropout, who works a dead end job delivering pizzas for a living. And Nate’s mother works as a waitress, so of course money is tight.
You could say being broke, and the frustrations for living a life that’s clearly going nowhere gave Nate the push that he needed. But Nate was truly inspired, when he delivered a pizza to a successful weed dealer named Taser (Lochlyn Munro). The big house, lots of women, and Taser is a wealthy and confident man.
Is it foolish to risk your life and a lengthy jail sentence for that lifestyle? Yes, but you can also understand why it appeals to Nate. He’s a geeky and socially awkward guy, who was bullied in high school. Nate is shy and nervous around women, so of course he’s going to jump all over the chance to be the cool guy in town, knowing women will throw themselves at him, because he’s rich and powerful. Simply put, tearing off the label for being a loser means A LOT to someone like Nate.
The tedious cliches are hard to ignore. And what happened to the relationship between Nicole and Topher? Nicole just disappears, as the story progresses. No explanations, and they didn’t mention her again, after she helps Topher with one of his weed runs through the woods. Nicole is the reason why Nate and Topher were able to take their business to the next level, so the vanishing act is kind of strange.
But Kid Cannabis is still an entertaining true crime comedy. Director/writer John Stockwell makes some successful attempts to bring an energetic spark to Kid Cannabis. A handful of GoPro style shots, and the numerous scenes featuring security camera footage works to add more realism to the movie. And the violence is kept to a minimum here. You’ll only see one bloody scene, when a hitman Brendan hired turns on him by choking and stabbing Brendan to death. Giovanni (Corey Large) brutally murders Brendan, while his brother watches, one of the scenes that’s on a short list of heavy and series moments.
Kid Cannabis features a well-rounded cast, including two notable and good performances from John C. McGinely and Ron Perlman. If we’re talking about different personalities, Bryce Hodgson’s Scuzz stands out in Nate’s crew of grunts, as the rebellious live-wire, who’s not afraid to challenge Nate’s authority. The laughs are also consistent. One scene that sticks out for me happens, when Nate, wearing an obvious fake mask, goes to visit a lawyer named Joe Loya (Ben Cotton) for legal advice. A genuinely hilarious scene from start to finish.
Also, Kid Cannabis opens with some social commentary about “the war on pot.” Nate starts off the movie talking about the feds prioritizing spending $42 billion going after his operation over the war on terror, and stopping Osama Bin Laden. And let’s not forget Teressia tearfully dismissing Nate’s impending legal troubles, because “it’s just pot.”
Kid Cannabis is a refreshing pick, if you’re looking for something different in the realm of stoner comedies. Maybe it’s a toss up for landing on the side of sympathy for Nate, what he did, and how he chose to handled everything. But one thing’s for sure, the story about a young pizza delivery driver turned weed kingpin from a small town in Idaho, is filled with a hefty amount of turbulent ups, downs, twists, and turns.
Rating- 7/10
