Weed heaven

Rating: 3/10 (22 July 2007)

My three stars for this movie goes to the Thai actors who actually spoke Thai - and more accurately the SOUTHERN dialect as expected as of where the island would be. I guess there are some "spoilers" in here somewhere, so if you truly do want to see the movie (I suggest you waste your money elsewhere), stop reading HERE.
So, what was so bad about this one? If you sit there smoking little cigarettes without tobacco, then this movie is for you. If not - forget about it. Because if this IS what you do, this movie's got it all: Weed for breakfast, weed for lunch and - hey - surprise (limited offer, only today) weed for dinner! The story is about a traveler from (surprise) USA who discovers his paradise on Earth: A secret beach on an island in Thailand - a place where there are (oh, my) an entire society of dope heads having an endless rave party.
I guess this is the story of The Garden of Eden retold in its hippie form, where you can smoke as many reefers as you like as long as you don't tell anyone else.
It is quite embarrassing to sit there watching a movie where they manage to get the culture of a country totally wrong and give you the impression that Thailand is a Mecca for dope heads. Maybe so on SOME islands, but Thailand so just happens to have EXTREMELY strict laws on drugs.
Taking so lightly on murder as they did in this one, and for that matter, drug abuse, is seriously way wrong. You do not make a movie where you get the feeling afterward that "everyone" around you smokes joints more or less all the time. Also, the really REALLY distasteful way of dealing with killing a person and then just - poof - forgetting about it afterward. Shame on you, Danny Boyle!