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Guilty Pleasure:
Psycho Ed from "High School"

I'm one of those people who claims not to have guilty pleasures. "If I like something, I like it, there's no guilt." But let's face it, we all love a few things we won't freely admit to loving.
It's like that Friends episode where it's revealed Rachel only claims 'Dangerous Liasons' is her favorite movie, but it's actually 'Weekend at Bernie's.'
So, for the sake of clearing the air and coming out of the proverbial closet, here's the character I up until now secretly adored, but normally wouldn't think of listing in my favorites. Because, you know, I have to front like I'm artsy and high brow.

Here's the premise of the film High School: There's an honor student whose friend convinces him to try marijuana for the first time. The night before a school-wide drug test, the results of which would lead to his expulsion. But of course. So, said honor student and said friend decide to score a massive amount of high-caliber product from the local genius/insane drug dealer (Psycho Ed), spike bake sale brownies and get the entire school high. The reasoning being, they won't expel him if everyone fails.


I know, I know. I'm supposed to be this artsy, serious movie fan, right? Then again, Adrien Brody is considered an artsy, serious actor... but here we are. Psycho Ed is hilarious! There, I said it. In all seriousness, it is actually a brilliant performance on Adrien's part. There, I said that, too.

Yes, he's doing somewhat shady stuff. Yes, he's considered "crazy." Yes, he looks like the love child of Hugh Jackman and Snoop Dogg (actually, put that one in the plus column). But darn it, there's an intelligence and depth to him, too. The story goes that he was a successful lawyer and one day just snapped and decided weed growing/dealing was a better gig. His approach to growing, security and the like are all very innovative. This is a brilliant man.

He actually ends up being a heroic figure, as well. He snaps back into lawyer mode to help a sexually harassed employee (or two?) of the high school to get justice (and a major pay day). She in turn runs off to a tropical paradise with Ed, of course. ;)

The film itself is actually of a much better quality than one would expect, also. On the surface, it appears to be a standard "stoner comedy," but the acting and script take it to a much higher (no pun intended) level. Pretty much all of the actors are wonderful (Colin Hanks and Michael Chiklis are especially memorable).

Is the overall plot dumb? Yeah, basically. Is much of the humor crude? Yes. But still, let's be real: it's entertaining. I mean, look...