Blu-ray Review: Cheech And Chong’s Next Movie

As we near the end of what seems like the fortieth year of Donald Trump’s presidency, a year when many of us have needed to rely on drugs and comedy to get us through, it seems fitting to turn to Cheech and Chong. As part of its Shout Select series, Shout! Factory has released a special Blu-ray edition of Cheech And Chong’s Next Movie. The film’s first line, spoken by Cheech Marin – “Hey, man, this is bullshit, man” – is a line many of us have found ourselves uttering all year, whenever Trump or any of his fellow assholes spoke on any subject. This movie, which was directed by Tommy Chong, features a fairly excellent cast, including Paul Reubens, Edie McClurg, Cassandra Peterson, Michael Winslow (doing a bit similar to what he would later do in Police Academy), Rita Wilson and Phil Hartman.

At the beginning of the film, Cheech is late for work for the fifth time that week (“It’s only Tuesday, man”), and Chong is his own best customer in his marijuana-selling business. Interestingly, Chong says: “Dope’s going to be legal in a few years. Then it will be a legitimate job.” Well, it took a bit longer than a few years, but he was certainly right. The movie doesn’t have anything resembling a strong plot. In addition to smoking pot, Cheech and Chong annoy their neighbor, get fired, have fun in a welfare office and play a funny song about Mexican Americans. And Chong and Red (Cheech’s cousin, also played by Cheech Marin) have something of an adventure. It’s more about these characters and the craziness surrounding them than it is about story.

There are plenty of funny lines. At one point, Chong carries a jar of urine, telling Cheech “It’s for my probation officer, man.” Cheech asks, “What, does he drink pee?” (And yeah, there is some pee-drinking in the film.) There is a great shot where Cheech backs the car out of frame in order to hit on some girl he’s spotted, and then pulls forward back into frame followed by a police car. And there are lots of fun bits of set dressing, like the “Waitress wanted” sign in the window of their house, and the “Dave’s not here” message scribbled on a wall near their phone (a nod to one of the duo’s most famous bits). And the movie has a weird-as-shit ending. The Blu-ray would certainly make a good Christmas gift for the right sort of person, you know? And it contains some special features.

Special Features

From Records To Movies: Making Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie is a new interview with Cheech Marin, in which he talks about the Cheech And Chong records, about improvisation, about the character Red, and about his influences (which include Ken Nordine). He also talks about how this movie was deliberately a day-in-the-life tale rather than something with a linear plot, that the film’s strength is that it does go all over the place. This feature is approximately nineteen and half minutes.

The Blu-ray disc also contains the film’s trailer, as well as seven radio spots.

Cheech And Chong’s Next Movie was released on Blu-ray on June 13, 2017 through Shout! Factory.