Getting high on life

UP IN SMOKE (1978)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Stoner comedies are not my particular cup of tea but Cheech and Chong, the stoner duo du jour, can often make me laugh. Some of their subsequent comedies like "Nice Dreams" and "Things are Tough all Over" had the occasional laughs. Then there was the atrocious "Still Smokin," which I imagine one could endure by being injected with sodium pentathol so that one can safely sleep through it. "Up in Smoke" is clearly the best Cheech and Chong comedy ever, resorting to some pure laughs and silly standout sequences that will make you smile.

The movie establishes a stoner feel from the opening scenes. We see Cheech Marin as Pedro De Pacas, a stoner to be sure who wakes up from his couch and finds his foot in a bowl of cereal! Then he dances a little jig before getting into his car that has an interior of blue fur and other colorful assortments (reportedly Jack Nicholson's actual car at one time!) and the soundtrack cranks up a perfect stoner's song (or so I've been told), War's "Low Rider." Pedro picks up a drummer, Anthony "The Man" Stoner (Thomas Chong), whom he mistakes for a woman! Then The Man hands Pedro a fattie as humongous as fatties can get. This is followed by a brief dose of acid before being pulled over by the cops while Pedro laughs hysterically. Yes, it is that kind of movie.

Hot on their tail is Sgt. Stedenko (Stacy Keach), a determined cop who has incompetent partners and uses a cleaning service van as a cover. Nice idea. Meanwhile, Pedro and The Man get hold of a rinky-dinky van made out of potent hash and have to drive it from Mexico to California, without getting pulled over by the cops. Along the way we get plenty of laughs involving awry sting operations by the cops, Tom Skerritt as a Vietnam Vet with a noticeable birthmark, Cheech and Chong getting stoned out of their minds from scene to scene, a red-haired woman who has an accent that is difficult to discern, a dog that passes out from smelling that mary jane smoke, and a fairly rousing battle of the bands climax (though there is no real ending).

There are some lulls and one too many scenes of Chong falling flat on his face yet this is a sweet, likable, thoroughly spirited movie. "Up in Smoke" will still depend largely on your tolerance level towards Cheech and Chong. If it is high (no pun intended), you'll enjoy the heck out of it. If it is low, consider smoking a big fattie instead.