‘Have a Good Trip’ Film Review: It’s All About the Celebrity Drug Stories
There’s more to the Netflix documentary than Sting, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Bourdain and A$AP Rocky telling tales about their use of hallucinogens — but not much more
“Have a Good Trip,” a documentary that premieres on Netflix on Monday, May 11, is a history lesson about the way that hallucinogenic drugs were once used in military testing by the U.S. government.
And it’s a discussion of why hallucinogens like LSD have the potential to be used to fight a wide array of conditions, including PTSD, depression and addiction.
But really, if you want to see “Have a Good Trip,” it’s not because of those things. It’s because this is the movie where famous people talk about their most memorable experiences while on drugs.
That’s the real appeal of director Donick Cary’s film, whose subtitle is “Adventures in Psychedelics” — to listen to Sting, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Bourdain, A$AP Rocky, Deepak Chopra, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, Paul Scheer, Rosie Perez, Nick Kroll and others talk about their, well, adventures in psychedelics.
So Sting describes helping a cow through a difficult birth on his farm while under the influence of peyote. Bourdain talks about an LSD/Quaalude party that resulted in a dead girl on the floor of his motel room (except that, whew, she wasn’t dead after all). Fisher details the time, at the height of her Princess Leia fame, when she dropped acid while sunbathing topless on a beach in the Seychelles and then found a busload of Japanese tourists snapping photos. A$AP Rocky says while having sex on LSD, a rainbow shot out of his penis — “and I don’t even like rainbows.”
Of course, it wouldn’t do just to have talking heads describe these events — and that’s where “Have a Good Trip” runs into difficulties.
The filmmakers, after all, are well aware that depicting drug experiences on screen is a tricky thing indeed. At one point, actor and comedian Steve Agee, talking about every acid trip he’s ever seen portrayed in a film, declares, “They have never, ever nailed it.”
And while “Have a Good Trip” tries really, really hard to not fall into the usual traps that make putting hallucinatory experiences on screen look silly, it can’t help itself. Despite psychedelic animated sequences, and despite purposefully ridiculous re-enactments — one featuring Rob Corddry playing a young Paul Scheer, followed by one with Scheer playing a young Corddry — it runs smack into one inescapable fact: the things that people are describing are always weirder and wilder and probably more interesting than what we’re looking at.
No matter what Conick and his team does, their animated sequences and re-enactments can’t help but be more conventional and mundane than the stories they’re trying to illustrate — which is OK when they’re deliberately recreating a cheesy anti-drug propaganda film, less so when they’re tackling lysergic-laced sagas from the array of celebrity trippers.
Yes, the bargain-basement look is a tacit admission that you really had to be there, but it’s still frustrating, and it gets wearying as the film goes on.
But despite that big shortcoming, you can learn stuff from “Have a Good Trip.” For instance:
• Don’t drive on acid.
• Don’t look in the mirror on acid.
• Don’t take acid around strangers, particularly if they’re a–holes.
• For help coming down from your trip, go to McDonalds.
To say those are important lessons, of course, is to suggest that viewers will walk away from “Have a Good Trip” wanting to try hallucinogens themselves. And, you know, some of them probably will. After all, who are we to doubt the enlightened likes of Sting and Deepak Chopra when they attest to the value of tripping? “I don’t think psychedelics are the answer to mankind’s problems,” Sting says at one point. “But they could be a start.”
And hell, even the bad trips described by Ben Stiller and Rosie Perez make for funny stories.
The film pays lip service to the idea that these drugs are not for everybody — but since the whole point is to spin fun anecdotes and to mock anti-drug public service announcements, that message does tend to get a little lost along the way.
But then, so does everything else except the feeling of “Hey, (fill in the name) sure has got a good drug story!”
20 Virus Outbreak Movies, From 'The Seventh Seal' to 'Contagion' (Photos)
We're not saying this is inspired by recent events that fill us with terror and insomnia, but we are saying that if you happen to relate to that feeling, here's a list of very cathartic movies about virus outbreaks to get you through it. Whether you want realism, fantasy, horror or maybe computer stuff, we have you covered. Feel free to take a personal day and not leave the house while you watch. And, before you ask: This whole gallery could have been nothing but zombie movies, so we decided to limit things to just Zombie movies that make the disease aspect front and center.
"The Seventh Seal" (1957) - If you haven't seen Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece, drop everything and do it now -- if only so you can finally understand the context for half the jokes in "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey." Set during the Black Death plague of the 1300s, the film centers on a knight who encounters the angel of death, and the game of chess they play for his soul.
"The Last Man on Earth" (1964)/"The Omega Man" (1971)/"I Am Legend (2007)" - Richard Matheson's 1954 novel "I Am Legend" inspired three very different adaptations. All they have in common is that a plague wiped out most of humanity and the survivors, save the main character, have been turned into (essentially) vampires. Will Smith's 2007 film kept the title but removed pretty much everything related to the book's big twist. Vincent Price's charming 1964 film preserves the plot best but has the lowest budget. But we're most partial to Charlton Heston's ultra-hammy 1971 film.
"The Andromeda Strain" (1971) - Based on the Michel Crighton novel, the film follows scientists investigating an infectious organism that fell to Earth from space. We'll spoil the ending by telling you they mostly save the day, so relax. Notable for some very innovative cinematography.
"Dawn of the Dead" (1978/2004 remake) - George A. Romero's 1978 classic isn't just a clever satire of consumerism. It's also a look at how the zombie apocalypse functions like a plague. And while Zack Snyder's action-packed remake ditched the satire, it actually expanded the disease element. Both are perfect to watch when you want your global pandemics fictional instead of so IRL you can't sleep.
"Outbreak" (1995) - When a new viral hemorrhagic disease breaks out in a small American town, CDC scientists race against time to stop it from spreading. Unfortunately, they also have to deal with a bloodthirsty Army general who wants the virus for a bioweapon and is determined to prevent a cure. This absurd plot was inspired by a celebrated nonfiction history of viruses like ebola because ah, Hollywood. But at least it's directed by the great Wolfgang Petersen.
"12 Monkeys" (1995) - Terry Gilliam's sci-fi classic stars Bruce Willis as a time traveler sent back to the 1990s to identify the origin of a global pandemic that nearly wiped out humanity. The portrayal of our world just before, and long after, the (near) end of civilization is harrowing. Luckily, the crazed ecoterrorist wannabe played by Brad Pitt provides much needed comic relief.
"Cabin Fever" (2002) - Eli Roth's directorial debut follows a group of recent college graduates who become infected with a flesh eating virus during a camping trip. It was remade in 2016 but neither version makes camping look any more appealing.
"Resident Evil" Series (2002-2017) - The only things you need to know about this multifilm franchise based on the Capcom video games is that an evil corporation creates a virus that turns most of humanity into zombies, Mila Jovovich kicks a lot of ass, and it's a go-to for seriously awesome actors looking for paycheck jobs they don't have to be embarrassed about. It's great.
"28 Days Later" (2003)/"28 Weeks Later" (2007) - In Danny Boyle's excellent 2003 original, and its very superior sequel directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the world is beset by a viral pandemic that turns anyone infected into permanently enraged monsters. Don't call them zombies but, uh, they totally are.
"Carriers" (2009) - In this postapocalyptic drama, four friends who survived a global pandemic road trip to a place they can hopefully live in peace. Spoiler: Things don't really work out. But it has Chris Pine, Emily Van Camp, Christopher Meloni and Piper Perabo, plus Kiernan Shipka in one of her earliest pre-"Mad Men" roles.
"Blindness" (2008) - Based on the Portuguese novel by José Saramago, the film looks at what happens when the world is hit by a pandemic that renders people blind. Worth it for the cast alone, which includes Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Gael García Bernal, Danny Glover and Alice Braga.
"Black Death" (2010) - Sean Bean gets in a warm up session for his career-defining role as Ned Stark here as a leader of a group of knights searching for a heretic during the 14th-century plague. Eddie Redmayne plays a monk who accompanies the knights. Fun fact: Carice van Houten also gets in a "Game of Thrones" warm-up, playing a scheming maybe-maybe-not witch.
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" (2011) - The reboot of the 1960s-70s "Planet of the Apes" series is anchored by a truly exceptional mo-cap performance from Andy Serkis as the super-intelligent chimp Caesar. It's in this list because Caesar gets his brainpower from an experimental viral-based Alzheimer's treatment, which unfortunately mutates into a deadly pathogen that kills billions of humans. Whoops.
"Contagion" (2011) - You might recognize this as the Steven Soderbergh film where Gwyneth Paltrow dies horribly from a deadly new virus. It's also a smart thriller about how diseases spread, the difficulty in finding a cure and the way conspiracy theorists and incompetent or malicious authorities can make it worse. Uh, excuse us we need a drink this is too real.
"World War Z" (2013) - If you loved the fictional oral history (written by Max Brooks) of how humanity narrowly survived a zombie apocalypse, you'll kind of like this in-name-only adaptation directed by Marc Forster. Brad Pitt plays a UN worker racing against time to discover the origins of a sudden global zombie pandemic -- who still takes time to make damn sure product placement contracts are fulfilled.
HONORABLE MENTION: "Hackers" (1995) - We saved the absolute best for last. It's not just a surprisingly great '90s artifact about computer geeks fighting an evil corporate techie. With a dope soundtrack. And a cast packed with virtual unknowns who would go on to huge fame and acclaim, including (no, really) Wendell Pierce, Lorraine Bracco, Matthew Lillard, Jonny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie. (Plus the criminally underrated Laurence Mason, and the villain played by Fisher Stevens.) It's also a movie about a virus outbreak. OK, OK, a computer virus. But after all the death you saw in those other movies, "Hackers" is a welcome and much needed fun time. You're in the butter zone now, baby.
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Netflix and chill?
We're not saying this is inspired by recent events that fill us with terror and insomnia, but we are saying that if you happen to relate to that feeling, here's a list of very cathartic movies about virus outbreaks to get you through it. Whether you want realism, fantasy, horror or maybe computer stuff, we have you covered. Feel free to take a personal day and not leave the house while you watch. And, before you ask: This whole gallery could have been nothing but zombie movies, so we decided to limit things to just Zombie movies that make the disease aspect front and center.
