“Abba Zabba, you my only friend!”
Imagine they made a sequel to Half Baked. That sounds like a slam dunk, right? After all, the original didn’t set the box office on fire, but it’s presumably made a mint on home video. Well, it looks like Universal’s finally got a Half Baked 2 in the mix, but of the original cast, the only person to return is Rachel True, who played the love interest, Mary Jane. Well, ok, that’s not true. Deadline is reporting that Harland Williams will have a cameo. So that’s something, right?
All this begs the question, why, twenty-five years later, make a Half Baked sequel without either Dave Chappelle, an infinitely bigger star now than he was in 1998, and Jim Breuer? Chappelle, I kind of get – the man is busy and would probably cost millions and millions to get, but Jim Breuer? Could nobody cut the SNL alum a check?
In what should come as no surprise, Half Baked 2 comes from Universal’s 1440 Entertainment, which is their low-budget DTV label. They recently made the two most unlikely sequel/prequels of all time, R.I.P.D 2: Rise of the Damned and Blade of the 47 Ronin.
Rachel True will be joined in Half Baked 2 by Dexter Darden (from The Maze Runner), Moses Storm, Jeff Ross, David Koechner and Frankie Muniz, of all people. It’s directed by Michael Tiddes (filling in for the wildly underrated Tamra Davis) and centres around the Chapelle character’s son. Well, ok then – at least they haven’t replaced Chappelle, but why bother making a Half Baked 2 without Chappelle or Breuer?
Funny story – years ago at the Sundance Film Festival, I had a beer with Tamra Davis (a really cool lady) and mentioned that when I worked at a video store in my youth, we could never keep a copy of Half Baked in stock, because the stoners that rented it always forgot to return it. I have my doubts the sequel will have quite the same staying power.
Do you have any interest in this DTV Half Baked 2? Let us know in the comments.