The film follows the story of Ricardo Baca, the world's first editor of marijuana. It is a documentary film that embodies the path of this man who is trying to invent a way to cover an emerging industry for a major daily newspaper. It appears to be a business model that happens to struggle with how to get through all things.
Dickman's lively documentary functions as both a handy pot primer and a telling portrait of the volatile, adapt-or-die climate that continues to hover over the newspaper industry.
"Rolling Papers" struggles to remain relevant throughout its short run time, and wobbles between glorification and reflection until it completely tilts over.
It seems like legalization is not a matter of if but when, but once "when" finally happens it will be unlikely that Rolling Papers will have contributed much to the effort.
The two most likely audiences for this documentary - people interested in marijuana and people interested in the news business - will probably find it shallower than they'd hoped.
