Get The Weed (Denny Brechner, Alfonso Guerrero, Marcos Hecht, 2017) : Uruguay, USA

Reviewed by Markus Rusti. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2018.

Thought out by Danny Brechner and co-directed by Alfonso Guerrero and Marcos Hecht, Get the Weed is a mockumentary about supplying Uruguay with weed after its legalized. Alfredo and his mom set out, with orders from the President, to get a supplier that is willing to help send tonnes of marijuana from the USA to Uruguay.

Danny Brechner plays a character called Alfredo. Through Alfredo, Emilio can reach many people and create a lot of funny situations, a lot of the humor comes from the role he’s created, and a lot comes from his mother. They also go the ex-President of Uruguay Mujica to be a part of it, making it seem like “Get the Weed” was a mission from the President.

Brechner also decided to put in audio clips of the president talking so it seemed like they were talking on the phone. This creates even more funny situations. Danny created a company called the “Uruguayan chamber of legal marijuana.” with this company name, Alfredo is able to appear on panels and meet up with government officials in the US to discuss sending marijuana to Uruguay. The funniest parts of the movie are when Alfredo and his mother accompanied by a police officer from Uruguay goes to times square in New Your to ask people appearing in costumes where they can acquire some weed.

A lot of the humor in Get the Weed comes from Alfredo’s mother and her interactions with weed and drug-dealers. In Q&A’s with the makers of the film, we learn that his mother never smoked marijuana until the making of the film. She has said that it was worth trying weed because she got to hang out with her son a lot. After appearing in the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the movie received the Jury’s Special Mention.