Stoner Flicks: 12 That Rate High

This dumb-buddy vision quest enabled the existence of Dude, Where's My Car? and was made by the director who brought us Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (Danny Leiner). Most excellent, indeed.

Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is not quite the greatest stoner in the history of film (we'll be getting to The Big Lebowski's Jeff Bridges in a little while), but his surfer-dude personality became a bitchin' archetype for kindred adventurers like Bill & Ted to follow.

Ostensibly a terrifying cautionary tale about the dangers of marijuana-induced psychosis (with a poster that's become a dorm-room classic); really more like Our Town on drugs.

A highway-patrol pot caper involving a bear costume, syrup-drinking contests, and an Afghan cartoon monkey carrying coded Taliban messages. Come to think of it, this should probably be higher on the list.

Ben Stone (Seth Rogen)
Knocked Up (2007)

Um, who's that dood over in the side yard, smoking a doobie with his friends and listening to Old Dirty Bastard?

Cheech and Chong bring their doobie-brothers act to the big screen, at one point illegally crossing the border in a van made entirely of reefer. Happens all the time.

A rainbow coalition of celebrity cameos populates this whacked-out film that's sort of about Dave Chappelle dealing stolen medical marijuana and sort of about Jon Stewart saying, ''...on WEED!''

On Friday, with nothing to do, Ice Cube and Chris Tucker get high, sit on a porch, and watch the ghetto go by. Oh, and they learn some important life lessons.

A pair of pals (Kal Penn and John Cho) quest for tiny burger bundles of joy. Their totally baked journey includes a stop at Princeton (for more weed), a ride on an escaped cheetah, and an encounter with Neil Patrick Harris, who's high on ecstasy and looking to get laid. Stoner movies don't get much more creative than that.

Method and Red smoke weed planted in the ashes of a dead friend, and his ghost gets them into Harvard. Happens all the time.

The Dude (Jeff Bridges) is the greatest stoner in the history of film because the Dude abides, dude.

Richard Linklater's slacker opus glides along on a buzz stoked by Aerosmith and carefree youth. You don't need to have a joint to hang with these Texas teens celebrating their last day of school...but as Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) would say, ''it'd be a lot cooler if you did.''