A home grower, an iconic comedy duo, a '70s burnout, improv cops, a wild Ecstasy deal, a hip-hop mash-up, a druggy bad girl, Navy SEALs on psychedelics, an angel in L.A. and a classic-rock sequel are the themes and plots of the 10 films that made the greatest impact in 2025 for their treatment of subjects related to cannabis and other drugs.
Our list is filled with comedies (six), some of the dark variety. Plus, we have two dramas, one documentary and one concert film.
1. Grassland
Sofia (Rachel Ticotin) is a single mother in 2008 who grows weed. She makes tinctures from indoor plants and sells the rest with the help of her friend Brandon (Quincy Isaiah), who's fond of her eight-year-old son Leo (Ravi Cabot-Conyers).
Things change dramatically in William Bermudez and Sam Friedman's compelling film when police officer John Duffy (Jeff Kober) and his grandson Tom (Sean Convery) move into Sophia's New Jersey building. John's a nosy bastard and treats Tom badly.
One day he busts Brandon, who is Black, for possessing an eighth Sofia (she's from Argentina) gave him to sell. She argues with Duffy who says Brandon will get 10 years. "It never killed anyone," she says. "It's a direct gateway to harder stuff," he spews.
Before the arrest, he hits a joint. Sofia does the same in another scene and you often see her trimming.
Duffy's appearance is just a bad break for everyone. It reminds me of the 2022 arrest of Brooklyn grower Eleni Polinski, whose indoor garden was in the same building where her uncle, a DEA agent, lived, He turned her in.
So does Duffy with Sofia. Or at least he tries. But she and Leo get away while Brandon's languishing in jail.
It's a sad story about how people of color got entangled in the drug war and suffered terribly for it.
Watch Grassland at Apple TV with a subscription
