It is not quite accurate to state that had recreational marijuana use been legal in the early 1970s, the comedy team of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong would not have had careers. As the new documentary “Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie” details, they had rather relatively lucrative gigs before the rise of the counterculture. But when they brought stoner characters into their act, it propelled them even, well, higher.
“Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie,” directed by David Bushell, features the two comedians ruminating on their careers and friendship. They do so both in separate talking-head segments and sitting together in the front seat of a vintage roadster in search of a site called “The Joint.” The first segments are more or less extemporaneous interviews, while the scenes in the roadster are scripted. The emotions they perform, however, feel genuine.
Bushell has an archive of vintage audio and visual footage to buttress an already incredible narrative. Tommy Chong was born in Canada, but Richard Marin, who was known as Cheech, moved there in the 1960s to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Both were keen on pursuing music careers before they met in an improv theater group in Vancouver. The movie delves so deeply into their pasts that “Cheech and Chong,” their 1971 blockbuster debut comedy album, doesn’t come up until an hour into the movie.
And yet the documentary doesn’t quite cover everything — their collaborations with Joni Mitchell and Martin Scorsese go unmentioned, for example. This is still a rollicking account that will make even non-herbally-inclined viewers root for the fellows.
Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie
Rated R for language and — surprise — drug humor. Running time: 2 hours 3 minutes. In theaters.
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