Guess White Castle hadn't made it out West, yet.
Well, it only took me 40 years to see my first Cheech & Chong movie. I just thought: What the hell? Haven't seen one yet and they're definitely part of the film culture. Without seeing them together, I am familiar with Chong and his numerous arrests and Cheech from The Golden Palace and From Dusk Till Dawn. So much so, it was kinda hard to separate him from his three roles in one of my favorite vampire films.
Previously, I had avoided their films because, frankly, the leads looked so incredibly dirty and disgusting, like they haven't showered in weeks, if at all. In fairness, that stance hasn't changed, though it's more on the Chong side than Cheech. He looked fairly well kept up whereas Chong looks like you could smell him a mile away.
That all said, I actually had higher expectations from this as it's pretty much considered a comedic classic. True, I laughed out loud at many of the jokes but was let down by the enormous amounts of dead air and the even less time spent on the script.
Of course, this wasn't meant for a Screenplay win at the Oscars, nor am I the target demographic. But, it still can be chock-full of jokes and with less stretches of time with absolutely nothing happening of interest. I kept thinking back to The Blues Brothers just two years after this. Totally not my type of film and it took a ton of convincing on my part to finally see that a few years back. I literally couldn't stop laughing for long stretches of time and throughout. Here I was laughing and then waiting 10-15 minutes for something to happen and then a few chuckles and then another 10 minutes of patiently waiting to laugh again.
To describe the plot is pointless. Let's just say: aimless dudes meet, fall in friendship love and end up at a clichéd Battle of the Bands for...reasons. Well, it is established Pedro "Cheech" De Pacas is in a weird band, but the entire movie really is about trying to score drugs, getting chased by cops and driving. Lots and lots of driving. I think half the budget went to the gas station.
Perhaps I'm thinking too deep here, but I've seen my share of extremely funny and well-written stoner movies. Granted most of those are much more recent than this 40-year-old film. So, I guess I'll cut it some slack.
***
Final thoughts: Crossing this duo off my bucket list. While I, again, laughed pretty hard at some of the scenes, it was just enough to puff, puff, pass on their follow-up films.
Well, it only took me 40 years to see my first Cheech & Chong movie. I just thought: What the hell? Haven't seen one yet and they're definitely part of the film culture. Without seeing them together, I am familiar with Chong and his numerous arrests and Cheech from The Golden Palace and From Dusk Till Dawn. So much so, it was kinda hard to separate him from his three roles in one of my favorite vampire films.
Previously, I had avoided their films because, frankly, the leads looked so incredibly dirty and disgusting, like they haven't showered in weeks, if at all. In fairness, that stance hasn't changed, though it's more on the Chong side than Cheech. He looked fairly well kept up whereas Chong looks like you could smell him a mile away.
That all said, I actually had higher expectations from this as it's pretty much considered a comedic classic. True, I laughed out loud at many of the jokes but was let down by the enormous amounts of dead air and the even less time spent on the script.
Of course, this wasn't meant for a Screenplay win at the Oscars, nor am I the target demographic. But, it still can be chock-full of jokes and with less stretches of time with absolutely nothing happening of interest. I kept thinking back to The Blues Brothers just two years after this. Totally not my type of film and it took a ton of convincing on my part to finally see that a few years back. I literally couldn't stop laughing for long stretches of time and throughout. Here I was laughing and then waiting 10-15 minutes for something to happen and then a few chuckles and then another 10 minutes of patiently waiting to laugh again.
To describe the plot is pointless. Let's just say: aimless dudes meet, fall in friendship love and end up at a clichéd Battle of the Bands for...reasons. Well, it is established Pedro "Cheech" De Pacas is in a weird band, but the entire movie really is about trying to score drugs, getting chased by cops and driving. Lots and lots of driving. I think half the budget went to the gas station.
Perhaps I'm thinking too deep here, but I've seen my share of extremely funny and well-written stoner movies. Granted most of those are much more recent than this 40-year-old film. So, I guess I'll cut it some slack.
***
Final thoughts: Crossing this duo off my bucket list. While I, again, laughed pretty hard at some of the scenes, it was just enough to puff, puff, pass on their follow-up films.