A film student had great success creating YouTube videos in his undergrad days, but now that he has graduated he has to figure out how to earn a living. His iconoclastic style is too free-wheeling to be harnessed by any mainstream ad agency, and even the most daring consumer product companies find his ideas too outrageous to be associated with their brands, even when those brands specifically target stoners! He does finally find a medium that allows him to earn money without compromising: uncensored late-night ads for (ahem) adult-oriented services.

That's a flimsy premise, to be sure, but it only takes up about fifteen minutes of running time. The structure of the plot is only a framing device, because the real meat of Stonerville is actually a series of unrelated comedy skits, ala Groove Tube or Kentucky Fried Movie. The various sketches unfold in the young filmmaker's imagination as he spies everyday events and tries to picture how he could turn them into funny internet videos.

There is an ensemble cast, and several of them appear in multiple roles. Frankly, that can be kind of confusing, because some of the actors are recognizable. For example, the guy who plays Jackie Chiles on Seinfeld appears in two different substantial roles in this film, and does not try to distinguish them in any way. He plays a corporate executive and a prominent sportscaster without even a change of wardrobe. I guess that wouldn't really matter if the sketches were funny, but they aren't.

This was Leslie Nielsen's last film, and that's sad for at least two reasons. One, of course, is that Leslie will no longer be around to make us smile. The other is that his final legacy will be this ineffective straight-to-vid comedy. Even the great Nielsen is dragged down by the lame writing, so you can imagine how bad the scenes can be when the lines are delivered by such lesser lights as the dreaded Pauly Shore.

Our Grade:

If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to read the explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by our definition, a C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:

D

Poor.