Stoned Sensation: Justin Bartha and Friends Face a Nuclear Buzzkill—And Everyone's Hung Up
Quiver Distribution didn't just drop a trailer—they detonated it. ‘Nuked' is what happens when Hollywood takes the edible, sits on it, and suddenly mistakes the Netflix “Are you still watching?” prompt for a missile alert. The entire Tribeca crowd lost its mind. Twitter (fine, “X”) is already spinning conspiracy memes about microwave popcorn and mushroom clouds.
Here's the plot: A crew of college friends (Anna Camp, Justin Bartha, Lucy Punch—plus enough comedy talent to smoke SNL under the table) gather for a technology-free, cannabis-infused dinner fueled by paranoia and FOMO. Phones gone. Five courses stacked with weed. Vibes are somewhere between “Coachella in a bunker” and “Doomsday Preppers, but make it Hulu.” Then someone sneaks a look at their phone—
and boom. There's a bomb incoming.
Why ‘Nuked' Just Out-Smoked the Genre—Or Fell on Its Own Sword
Let's be honest: Stoner comedies are to streaming what karaoke is to bars—inevitable, sometimes embarrassing, but occasionally transcendent. But here's the…twisted joint: ‘Nuked' actually rips its core concept from that viral 2018 Hawaii missile scare, where half the state panic-ordered their last Poke bowls before the world didn't end [NBC News, 2018]. Will it mine fresh laughs from fresh dread, or just spark up a rerun?
Insane detail: This is Anna Camp and Justin Bartha locked in a bomb shelter, high as their 40th birthdays—and the real timer is the weed kicking in just as annihilation approaches. The stakes? Their snacks versus nuclear annihilation.
Savage comparison: Imagine “This Is the End” snorting a line of “Don't Look Up,” directed by a first-timer who thinks every Alexa device is secretly watching.
The Paranoia Pipeline: When Real-Life Panic Becomes Hollywood Derangement
Cannabis, chaos, and catastrophe—Deena Kashper's directorial debut takes a gamble: Can you turn the real-world anxiety of doomsday errors into something funnier than your uncle's email chain about UFOs? There's history here: from “Dr. Strangelove” to “Pineapple Express,” Hollywood's been obsessed with mixing giggle fits and Armageddon.
But ‘Nuked' tips the scale—no superstars parachuting in; no superheroes. Just regular folks with buzzkill munchies, trapped in a mansion and collectively losing it. As one festival critic dryly DM'd, “It's like ‘Big Chill' for the paranoia generation. They're not sure if they should hide or high-five.”
Would You Watch—or Just Hide Under the Table?
Genius or just another meltdown? Are we talking instant cult classic or “please, Netflix, take this off my algorithm”? Your move.
