Movie star Ryan Reynolds is producing an R-rated parody of Home Alone called Stoned Alone for 20th Century Fox.
It’s like Fox exec Matt Reilly saw Jon Stewart’s cameo in Half Baked and took it a little too seriously, probably thinking to himself, “Remember Home Alone? Well, let’s do that, except on weed”, while chuckling and patting himself on the back for the hilarious concept.
But don’t worry. The movie’s not going to be about a 10-year-old kid being stoned out of his mind while turning his house into a death trap- “it centers around a twenty-something weed growing loser who misses the plane for his holiday ski trip. He makes the best of things by getting high. Paranoia sets in and he believes he hears someone break into his house. Turns out thieves have broken in. Fully stoned and fueled by paranoia, he tries to thwart the thieves and defend his castle,” according to Deadline.
So while it seems like it’s relying on some of those tired and played out stoner stereotypes, that’s not to say there isn’t any potential here.
An R-rating gives filmmakers a lot more freedom on where they can go, and there’s no word yet on whether the cartoonish violence of the original Home Alone would be replaced by something darker, as many have pointed out that the original Home Alone featured traps that could have easily killed someone in real life.
There are even fan theories that Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin) grew up to become the Jigsaw killer from Saw! So perhaps they go down that path and make it an over-the-top violent and gory black comedy. That sounds kind of intriguing, at least.
But it doesn’t answer the big questions like “What kind of traps will he set?” and “Will the traps be weed-related?”.
This could be a great chance to show some cannabis creativity- maybe he makes bong bombs or a medieval-looking torture rack called the “Joint Roller”, or perhaps super-concentrated smoke bombs that instantly get you blitzed?
There’s no word yet on the stars, but Ryan Reynolds, at the age of 41, is a bit too old to play a 20-something, and for those of you hoping for Seth Rogen to pick up the part- he’s 36.
But it could be great stunt casting to get Macaulay Culkin back to play an older Kevin McCallister, and can you imagine if they got Seth Rogen and/or Ryan Reynolds to play the thieves? If that happened, they could call the burglar duo the “BC Buds”!
Stoned Alone will be directed by Augustine Frizzell, a new director whose first film hasn’t even been released yet- it’s called Never Goin’ Back, and it’s set to arrive in theatres in early August. Vulture.com called it the “summer’s funniest buddy comedy” so perhaps her comedic chops can make Stoned Alone another stoner classic.
Featured image courtesy of GQ.
Sources
AV News: Ryan Reynolds is making a weed-based Home Alone parody called Stoned Alone, and he must be stopped.
Deadline: Ryan Reynolds At Center Of ‘Home Alone’ Revise; Augustine Frizzell To Helm R Comedy ‘Stoned Alone’.