There was a time in Hollywood, or should I say, a cultural segment of Hollywood, where crude, irresponsible, and drug addled behavior was considered humorous. Cheech and Chong's "Up in Smoke" (1978) celebrates and explores this endeavor. The plot is so ludicrous and sophomoric that it won't take long to describe it. Basically, two losers hook up unwittingly and get caught in some crime caper about smuggling a van constructed of Marijuana. Yea. That's it. This comedy duo achieved moderate fame in the latter 1970's with a couple of comedy albums and then went into making movies. After the moderate success "Up In Smoke" with the younger generation, they went on the make several more films each getting worse and progressively less funny: Cheech and Chong's Next Movie, Nice Dreams, Things are Tough all over Corsican Brothers and Still Smokin'. But by the third installment their Star power waned, the Stoner Humor ran thin, and they soon overstayed their welcome.
Cheech and Chong are a byproduct of the 1960's Hippie counter-culture that as a residual to entertainment, was used, similar to Bill and Ted in the 1980's and 1990's. They make fun of themselves with crude vomit, farting jokes and the escapades involving getting stoned. Sure, it's funny when you're a kid, but you later realize how overrated this all was in hindsight. Cheech and Chong developed their own brand of Low-Brow humor which in a way was a triumph. They weren't pontificating to be anything more than Druggies, who in their authentic style, derived the humor from just that, Silly Kid humor. If you really want to catch a glimpse of this burnt-out Comedy duo, this is the only film worth a laugh. Their subsequent works are just lame rehashes of the same crude and stupid shenanigans.
Cheech and Chong are a byproduct of the 1960's Hippie counter-culture that as a residual to entertainment, was used, similar to Bill and Ted in the 1980's and 1990's. They make fun of themselves with crude vomit, farting jokes and the escapades involving getting stoned. Sure, it's funny when you're a kid, but you later realize how overrated this all was in hindsight. Cheech and Chong developed their own brand of Low-Brow humor which in a way was a triumph. They weren't pontificating to be anything more than Druggies, who in their authentic style, derived the humor from just that, Silly Kid humor. If you really want to catch a glimpse of this burnt-out Comedy duo, this is the only film worth a laugh. Their subsequent works are just lame rehashes of the same crude and stupid shenanigans.