Review of Up in Smoke (1978) by Melvin W — 06 Mar 2013

Man Stoner: Mostly Maui Waui man, but it's got some Labrador in it. .

"You'll be rolling in the aisles.".

Every stoner out there owes a little something to Cheech and Chong, and this movie, Up in Smoke. This was the first time we saw a true "stoner" film and it still holds up decades later. The genius in Cheech and Chong is that they are able to successfully take every myth, every dumb stereotype about marijuana and make them into hilarious jokes. The way they talk is the biggest joke of all. They are using what everyone really expects out of a so called "stoner", and use it for material. You gotta admit, it's pretty genius.

Up in Smoke follows the two characters of Pedro(Cheech) and Man(Chong). The two meet when Chong is hitchhiking and Cheech pulls over because he thinks it's a woman. The two hit it off right from the start, smoking the biggest, thickest joint you're ever likely to see. When they get stranded in Mexico after being deported, they agree to drive a van across the border. They think they're smuggling in upholstery, but unknowingly to them, the whole van is constructed from marijuana. A dumb detective and his even dumber henchmen are right behind them the whole way.

Up in Smoke has achieved a sort of cult following, but don't let that take away from how classic this film happens to be. I'm not ever going to argue that this is a masterpiece or an overly important film(exception is that it started the stoner comedy genre, but you would assume that would have came to being without this). What it is though is a fun and hilarious one. Obviously the jokes are mostly centered around marijuana, so it helps if marijuana humor is something you like.

Everyone has their own opinion on the film. A lot of people love it, but a lot of people hate it also. There's a lot of reasons to hate it, if you want to look. It doesn't have much of a plot, it's stupid, it's basically a one joke comedy, and some would even go as far as to say that Cheech and Chong were doing a disservice to America's youth by glamorizing marijuana. So if you want to hate it, hate it. I however, after probably the tenth time I've seen it, still love it. Up in Smoke is one of those go to movies when I just smoked up, it's midnight, and I'm bored. .