Tropic Sprockets / Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie

By Ian Brockway

Cheech & Chong evolved as a spontaneous duo that achieved fame in the late 1970s. The couple gained access to mainstream Pop culture (if not critical acclaim) with a trio of films “Up in Smoke” (1978), “Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie” (1980) and “Nice Dreams” (1981). [Showtimes and trailer at Tropiccinema.com]

Their routines, modeled after Abbott & Costello, revolved around two hippies being sedated by marijuana and lacking awareness or ambition. Although the humor often ran thin, their repetitions had a charming momentum and an innocence that was appealing in spite of itself.

Like the comedian Paul Ruebens who became Pee Wee Herman and Cassandra Peterson who transformed into Elvira, Cheech & Chong are iconic, deeply embedded in American culture.

Now directed by David L. Bushell, “Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie” is essentially a documentary loosely threaded into a road trip skit.

The first moments will bring guffaws and belly laughs as Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong now elders, drive down a stretch of desert road and blankly ponder where they are and what they possibly could be doing along the empty vast expanse. “Hey Man. Oh, Hey Man” begins a frequent exchange. The two are endearing and charming here because there exists a giving gentleness and their delivery is perfect.

The two drive on chatting about their origins and their kismet friendship professionally and personally. The film begins with whimsy and promises almost on the level of Hunter S. Thompson, excitedly cataloging various drugs and enhancements. Cheech has big brown eyes, a smiling Mexican child-mystic ready to take in the world of cannabis and carnivals, while Chong, peering and intense might speak on the permutations of various psychedelia.

With incomprehension and wonder on their faces, the two still have it.

But when they pick up former producers Lou Adler and Howard Brown, the film stalls into some pedestrian recounting of Hollywood’s highs and lows. Cheech & Chong are best when they are free to be spontaneous and smoke fogged, but their earnest recollections are too serious and inhibit the film’s novel potential.

That being said, history, depth and nostalgia deliver poignance. Cheech was an aspiring ceramicist with an angry father. Chong was an accomplished musician and songwriter. Both had an aversion to the status quo and rebelled. They met in Vancouver at a comedy club and topless bar, starting very silly vaudeville type routines. With a clientele of young people, their spaced-out remarks and observations gained voltage and charge. Radio spots and films were soon to follow.

The sequels to the first seminal “Up in Smoke” were nearly cut to shreds by critics but achieved cult status. Most thought you could only make so much hay out of weed with endless talk about munchies and amazement in the mundane.

The most compelling aspect about the film is that through thick and thin both comedians have had a solid professional relationship if not a personal one. Cheech Marin has some resentment over not directing a single film. Chong in turn feels cuttingly dismissed over Cheech’s solo turn in “Born in East L.A.” which was highly regarded. Tempers simmer with genuine heat.

Both men look into the blue void of sky and exhale. When conversation resumes, one laments the absence of color and verve. The couple smiles weakly. Abruptly, Chong and Cheech spot a cafe, and one wants for a punchline but there is only ochre dust.

What remains is a weed-laced nostalgia hunt as if staged by Beckett. While the last moments will harsh your high, the film is a thorough assessment of two 20th century comics that started the concept of comedy being equal to a rock star event.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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