Humboldt County (2008)

60% of critics liked it
(20 reviews)
59% of users liked it
(1,297 ratings)

An ambitious and straight-laced young man falls in with a group of stoners and aging hippies in this independent comedy drama. Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong) is a medical student in his early twenties whose dreams of a residency at a prestigious teaching hospital are dashed when he flunks out of a… More An ambitious and straight-laced young man falls in with a group of stoners and aging hippies in this independent comedy drama. Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong) is a medical student in his early twenties whose dreams of a residency at a prestigious teaching hospital are dashed when he flunks out of a class taught by his father (Peter Bogdanovich). Trying to blot out his awful day, Peter heads to a jazz club, where he ends up going home with Bogart (Fairuza Balk), the sexy singer with the band. The next day, Peter tags along with Bogart as she pays a visit to her family, and is soon stranded with her aunt and uncle as she heads back into the city. Jack (Brad Dourif) and Rosie (Frances Conroy) are former academics-turned-bohemian dropouts who live in a remote and idyllic community near California's redwood forests, where they support themselves by growing marijuana. Also living with Jack and Rosie are Max (Chris Messina), Bogart's sometime boyfriend, and Charity (Madison Davenport), Max's young daughter. While Peter clearly doesn't fit in with Jack, Rosie, and their friends at first, before long he develops an appreciation and respect for their way of life as he ponders his future, but the risks of their profession become equally clear to him, and Max is looking for a big score so he and Charity can move on. Humboldt Country was the first feature film from the writing and directing team of Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Danny Jacobs, Darren Grodsky
Written By: Danny Jacobs, Darren Grodsky
Genres: Drama, Comedy

In Theaters: Sep 26, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Jan 13, 2009
Studio: Magnolia Pictures

Critic Reviews

Maureen M. Hart, Chicago Tribune
Be prepared: Humboldt County is a slow starter. But what appears to be the cliched uptight nerd liberated by flighty sprite tale evolves into something deeper, darker, more resonant.
Joe Leydon, Variety
An amiably paced, character-driven comedy-drama about a disenchanted student who finds himself among the unreconstructed hippies and second-generation fringe dwellers who farm marijuana in the Lost Coast region of Northern California.
Kyle Smith, New York Post
Possibly it might be of some interest with the right amount of buzz, but then so is a passing cloud.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
So much pot is smoked in the agreeable drama Humboldt County that you may come away from it with a contact high.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
Humboldt County has an impressive cast and captures some of that era's fuzzy rebelliousness and humanism, but taken on its own the picture is finally thin stuff.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
A culture clash movie pitting '60s free spirit internal exiles against the dog-eat-dog success obsessed youth of today, and that may similarly divide critics along these generation gap lines.
Jay Antani, Filmcritic.com
the whole thing feels wrong and cheeky
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
It becomes an endearing journey, even with the shock of Bogart's sudden departure from the scene and the movie's change of pace.
Don R. Lewis, Film Threat
The characters are so well defined, the acting so top-notch and the cinematography so stunning, I was able to forgive what I saw as script issues.
Ethan Alter, Giant Magazine
The movie's neither funny enough nor filled with enough dramatic tension to keep us invested in Peter's halting journey of self-discovery.
Doris Toumarkine, Film Journal International
Dud drama about a med-school failure from L.A. who finds himself amidst pot-growing hippies in a remote corner of the eponymous "Lost Coast" county.
David Fear, Time Out New York
Though the movie achieves that New Hollywood contact high only in fits and starts, this familial drama still leaves a pleasant buzz.
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
Humboldt County's doleful charm -- verdant, lovely, ominous, final -- leaves little room for idealistic dreams or even the promise of romantic redemption.
Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
For an idea of how Humboldt County plays, imagine a Lifetime original movie about a loveable but pathetic couple who passed their druggy lifestyle on to the next generation.
Mark Rahner, Seattle Times
A relaxed, sweetly amusing little indie effort that'll make you want to hang out with its inhabitants, except with better snack food than they have.
Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine
The indie folk on the soundtrack teeter the film perilously close to another emo Gen-X flick about discovering who you really are, man, yet its quiet assurance hoists it to the top of genre.
Brian Orndorf, BrianOrndorf.com
While the concept of the movie is tuned into all those warm, important questions of purpose, the execution lacks gravity, making the picture one long, slow spiral into melodramatic hogwash.
Prairie Miller, NewsBlaze
A culture clash movie pitting '60s free spirit internal exiles against the dog-eat-dog success obsessed youth of today, and that may similarly divide critics along these generation gap lines.
Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
Friction is of a schematic sort that all too often seems mainly intent on recalling spiritual predecessors Midnight Cowboy and Five Easy Pieces.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Melvin W

"It was a little further out than he thought." Humboldt County is a very disappointing film. It has a few scenes that are really good and every time one of them comes; I would think the movie was about to start getting better. But then the movie would fall right back into a… More
"It was a little further out than he thought." Humboldt County is a very disappointing film. It has a few scenes that are really good and every time one of them comes; I would think the movie was about to start getting better. But then the movie would fall right back into a 20 minute lull. I guess the main problem, besides boredom, is the fact that I really didn't like the lead, Jeremy Strong. It might actually just be the character, but either way, I hated him. What saved the movie from being a complete waste of time were the performances by Brad Dourif and Chris Messina. Both were great and the only bright spots of the entire film. The movie was just so dry. It failed to really sell it's emotional climax at all. I really didn't care. The lead up is boring for the most part. Like I said, it does have a few moments where you may think the story and pace is going to pick up and become more interesting. But that was never the case. It was pretty much an exercise in mediocre storytelling throughout.
First L

An uptight med student gets kidnapped by a bunch of dirty pot-growing hippies. No, really. Not that I have anything against dirty hippies, but these dirty hippies are also obnoxious and arrogant people who treat the uptight kid condescendingly. For some reason, the uptight med… More
An uptight med student gets kidnapped by a bunch of dirty pot-growing hippies. No, really. Not that I have anything against dirty hippies, but these dirty hippies are also obnoxious and arrogant people who treat the uptight kid condescendingly. For some reason, the uptight med student likes the upheaval these unpleasant hippies bring to his life, and stays with them in the woods. The hippies all live in the woods like children, throwing random temper tantrums, but is that the point? Is Humboldt County a horror movie, revealing the ugly truth about escapism? Is it an indictment of the 60s generation? If the film had had a little more depth, had the characters not been so universally repulsive, the lesson might've had more impact. But these so-called "real" people are more self-centered and less empathetic than the worst stereotypical yuppy. As it is, there's very little to actually like here, outside of the under-used Peter Dogdanovich.
Curtis L

Takes me back to high school days, hanging out with grown adults who give pot to kids. Brad Dourif is my hero.
William G

A pleasant dramedy about a medical student and the pot farmers who manage to shake him out of his ennui.
James B

A quirkly little film about self-discovery. Yeah there is a bunch of pot farming and smoking, and most of that is amusing. But the heart of the film is about making choices in life and not being afraid of the consequences. Beautifully shot in northern California.
Jason R

This is a really great film, the simplicity of it all and the acting is so spot on and fantastic. Frances Conroy gives a really great performance opposite an equally great Brad Dourif. The story is simple and yet very complicated as well as we see the lives of a family of pot growing,… More
This is a really great film, the simplicity of it all and the acting is so spot on and fantastic. Frances Conroy gives a really great performance opposite an equally great Brad Dourif. The story is simple and yet very complicated as well as we see the lives of a family of pot growing, free-spirited Californians enter in and out of a world of love, happiness, paranoid delusions and tragedy. I really recommend Humboldt County it is film making at it's finest and features acting of the highest caliber (no pun intended).