CHEECH & CHONG'S STILL SMOKIN'

I now have the unwanted image of Cheech Marin with extra testicles burned in my brain forever.

Have you ever been the only person in a room that isn't stoned? You look around at everyone giggling at things that just simply aren't funny, you watch them eat, and then you watch them slip into a stupor. That is basically the experience of watching Cheech & Chong's Still Smokin'.

It is one of those movies that is sloppy because of previous success. Cheech and Chong were huge in the late 70s and early 80s, especially with their ubiquitous stoner comedy Up In Smoke. So, this time around they ask: what do you do with a couple stoners for comic gold? Why, send them to Amsterdam!

What should be comic hilarity, is in fact a snooze. When Cheech and Chong get off the plane, Cheech is mistaken for Burt Reynolds. See, Burt and Dolly Parton were expected by the local film festival to present The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, but instead our stoners get swept into a limo and taken to Mr. Burt's hotel. They are awkwardly told that yes, indeed they were invited to the film festival under their own act, but, well, it's tight on money, sooooo... they didn't get the telegram saying don't come?

But for "stars" that the Dutch don't know, they sure don't seem unwelcome, as Cheech and Chong settle in to Burt Reynolds' suite, have sex with the maid, and smoke lots and lots of weed. Chong mainly plays the straight man to Cheech's horndog, and there are many fantasy sequences involving such random topics as wrestling and gay bathhouses, or movie spoofs of E.T. (The "Extra Testicle"), The Harder They Come, and Star Wars (renamed Fag Wars... cue the crickets of non-laughter).

Surprisingly (or not) the only part of Still Smokin' that actually works is the last half hour. Why? Because they give up on the acting and the lame wandering through Amsterdam scenarios, and instead fill time with footage from what looks to be their actual stand-up show from the film festival in Amsterdam. If Still Smokin' had just been a straight-on concert film, it probably would have been much funnier (this last chunk actually made me chuckle a few times). But instead, we are treated with a lazy, dated, way-too-long set-up.

  DVD NOTES  

As part of the I Love the 80's collection, this edition of Cheech & Chong's Still Smokin' comes with a bonus cd including the 80s hits "Lips Like Sugar" by Echo and the Bunnymen, "Chains of Love" by Erasure, "Need You Tonight" by INXS, and "Take On Me" by a-ha. The only other extra on the DVD is the original movie trailer.