Best stoner movies: 20 high-rated faves

Pot smoking may not be wholly accountable for Ned's (Paul Rudd's) happy-go-lucky demeanor in Our Idiot Brother, but the fact that he sold weed to a uniformed cop kind of says it all.

Your Highness is set in middle ages and the marijuana is called wizard weed, but it's also a Pineapple Express special, featuring the director along with Danny McBride and James Franco, so 'nuff said.

Related: EXCLUSIVE Natalie Portman loves stoner comedies, but not getting stoned

Nine years before The Hangover, two stoners (Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott) wake up one morning with no recollection of the previous night. Or obviously, where they parked their car. What follows — including dueling alien factions and a cannabis-craving pooch — delivers a decent contact high after just one viewing of Dude, Where's My Car?.

Marijuana takes a back seat to mescaline and LSD in this bitchin' Hunter S. Thompson trip, but Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp) and Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) are never for a second in their right mind during Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas.

Related: Terry Gilliam says shooting Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing cameo was 'horrible'

Shameless reprobate Jay (Jason Mewes) and sage Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) eventually became immortalized in comic book form as Blunt Man and Chronic, but in Smith's first Jersey opus Clerks, they're simple dealers harassing put-upon Dante (Brian O'Halloran) on what was supposed to be his day off.

Related: Kevin Smith says Harvey Weinstein still owes him royalties from Clerks

This coming of age film set in 1994 Manhattan tells the story of a lovesick teen (Josh Peck) who deals weed from his water-ice cart and trades reefer to his psychiatrist (Ben Kingsley) in return for counseling. Plus, Method Man and Mary-Kate Olsen costar, lending it their stamp of approval.

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 (RIP Danny Leiner). Most excellent, indeed. We cannot wait to ride with the duo again when Bill and Ted Face the Music.

Related: Alex Winter unearths some excellent Bill and Ted behind-the-scenes photos

Jack Black and Kyle Glass, two schlumpy wannabe musicians in search of a ''supranatural'' guitar pick, dance with the devil (Dave Grohl) and ultimately use Satan's horn as a bong. Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny is indeed an epic stoner journey.

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 from Fast Times at Ridgemont High became a bitchin' archetype for kindred adventurers like Bill & Ted to follow.

Related: Fast Times At Ridgemont High: Where are they now?

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, Super Troopers should probably be higher on the list.

Seth Rogen's slacker father-to-be in Knocked Up never had a choice. His name is Ben Stone, and his juvenile housemates and even his dad (Harold Ramis) are chronic fans of chronic.

Related: Seth Rogen addresses Katherine Heigl Knocked Up controversy

Cheech and Chong (Cheech Marin and Tommy 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.

Related: Up in Smoke: Cheech & Chong celebrate 40 years of the stoner comedy classic

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!''

Related: Dave Chappelle to receive Mark Twain Prize for American Humor

On Friday, with nothing to do, Ice Cube and Chris Tucker get high, sit on a porch, and watch the hood 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 Man and Redman smoke weed planted in the ashes of a dead friend, and his ghost gets them into Harvard. Happens all the time, or at least, it happens in How High.

In what might be the only stoner action movie, two unlikely doobie brothers, process server Dale (Seth Rogen) and groovy dealer Saul (James Franco), bond over the ''dopest dope I ever smoked,'' the potent Pineapple Express, while being chased by corrupt cops.

Related: Alien: Covenant has a surprising connection to Pineapple Express

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

Related: Ranking the 20 best characters from The Big Lebowski

Richard Linklater's slacker opus Dazed and Confused 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.''

Related: Watch Matthew McConaughey's Dazed and Confused audition