Rolling Papers

In 2013, just before the statewide legalisation of cannabis, The Denver Post newspaper created a editorial department especially for marijuana-related stories, headed by one Ricardo Baca. This new section included critics who were going to sample and review weed strains, and a mom who wrote about smoking dope and being a mom, however that goes together. In other words, another competition for titles such as High Times which have existed for forever, but this time coming from an established newspaper who wanted their cut of a lucrative market. OK, and that's about it for the content of this documentary. Anytime anyone says something positive or cracks a joke about (I don't want to repeat myself but here goes) weed there is an uproar of laughter from some audience.

Overall the documentary was fine. Not great, not that interesting...but about halfway through they demote a woman who was writing about smoking weed and being a mother because of backlash that they were getting about her ability to take care of her children. I'm sorry, but the rest of the documentary I was really hoping that she was going to sue them. They turned around and hired a guy who has a child AND admitted to being high in the morning, when the woman clearly smoked after her child had gone to bed. Nope, just nope.

The trailer for the movie made it seem like this is mostly about marijuana, but that seems like a small subject from what I saw. After Colorado makes Mary Jane legal, The Denver Post assigns an Editor to head up a new section of the newspaper design to capture this culture. It's about a year in the life of this Journalism team as they investigate the pros and cons of this new situation. What's working, What's not working, comparing it to other countries that do it, plus and inside look at the men and woman involved in being in the stories and writing them. Though it's a stretch to put this on the same level as such movies as Spotlight and Truth that recently came out and are about investigative journalism, still I think it will appeal to fans of Newspaper print. Though the subject is on cannibals, Rolling Papers most thrilling moments are watching the journalist go after the story. Good watch.

Overall the documentary was fine. Not great, not that interesting...but about halfway through they demote a woman who was writing about smoking weed and being a mother because of backlash that they were getting about her ability to take care of her children. I'm sorry, but the rest of the documentary I was really hoping that she was going to sue them. They turned around and hired a guy who has a child AND admitted to being high in the morning, when the woman clearly smoked after her child had gone to bed. Nope, just nope.