`HOMEGROWN' PLAYS IT PRETTY STRAIGHT FOR A STONER COMEDY.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Three latter-day stooges - calculating Jack (Billy Bob Thronton), horticulturalist Carter (Hank Azaria) and hotheaded young imbecile Harlan (Ryan Phillippe) - while away their lives as nature intended, in lots of fresh air and living off the land.

The land, however, is a Northern California marijuana plantation, and when its owner (John Lithgow) is murdered before their eyes, the three caretakers have to figure out what to do with his crop. And quick - before whoever was responsible for the first killing comes after them.

Goofy as its premise potentially sounds, ``Homegrown'' plays it remarkably, well, straight. The film is a bit of a thriller and kind of a study of strained relationships, though it's appropriately too casual to go very far with either of those ideas. But even though it has its share of wry social observation and inevitable flashes of stoner humor, this is far from a Cheech and Chong routine.

Greed, not getting high, is the driving passion here. Jack pretends to be his dead boss while trying to navigate the bewildering maze of underworld deals the deceased had set up. Meanwhile, the trio must oversee harvesting and processing of the crop, while keeping other partners - a sexy packager played by Kelly Lynch, Jon Bon Jovi's cordial but suspicious wholesaler - from asking too many questions.

In the increasingly dire, tenuous process of bringing the pot to market, we discover that the whole community, from sheriff to school district to the local teen-age mothers' support group, appreciates the prosperity the illegal trade has provided. As getting their piece of that profit grows more dangerous, though, the partners succumb to paranoia and mutual distrust.

``Homegrown's'' strengths are mainly atmospheric. It's got a sense of antic kineticism, a lazy erotic charge, a steady-rockin' soundtrack and amusing bits of behavior throughout. The narrative is coherent, which is something for a dope movie, though it doesn't add up to much.

Director Stephen Gyllenhaal (``Waterland,'' cable TV's ``Paris Trout'') worked on the script with Nick Kazan, who wrote the marvelously weird ``Reversal of Fortune.'' Some of that project's edgy eccentricity has found its way into ``Homegrown,'' but not enough to make it more than a zonky little diversion.

But ``Homegrown'' isn't the kind of movie that aspires to intoxicating heights. Its modest pleasures make for a refreshing, undemanding and unexpectedly down-to-Earth time at the movies.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Homegrown'' (R; language, drug use, violence, sex, nudity).

The stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Hank Azaria, Ryan Phillippe, Kelly Lynch, Jon Bon Jovi, John Lithgow.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal. Written by Gyllenhaal, John Raskin and Nicholas Kazan. Produced by Jason Clark. Released by TriStar Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 35 minutes.

Playing: Selected theaters.

Our rating: Two and One Half Stars.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Kelly Lynch, Hank Azaria, Billy Bob Thornton and Ryan Phillippe play partners in a marijuana harvest in ``Homegrown.''