Cheech and Chong's Next Movie

(1980) **1/2



Cheech and Chong’s second outing on the big screen is overall a mixed bag of commercial shwag with a few choice nuggets of brilliance thrown in. There really isn’t much of a plot other than more of the same – Cheech is trying to get laid and Chong smokes lots of weed. They trash a music store, get high with Edie McClurg, get abducted by aliens and find space coke. You know, the usual. If it ain’t broke…

But wait a second, aren’t Cheech and Chong movies nothing more than idiotic low-brow wastes of time? Perhaps. But the only real criteria I use for judging a comedy is whether or not it makes me laugh and this one does – at least for the first half hour. The scene where Chong casually ambles home to his run down shanty smack in the middle of an affluent suburb is simply priceless. It also has what I believe to be the greatest “hit” in stoner movie history. Ignoring that Chong is smoking an actual roach, you must admire his form and spirit. With a look of fierce determination, he fires up his pipe and starts puffing and puffing and puffing until there is so much smoke that it looks like it’s coming out of his ears. Then his look of confidence turns to fear as he realizes that he’s in way over his head. This leads to a vicious, particularly painful coughing fit. But once it’s over and he regains his composure, Chong fires up again as if nothing ever happened.

Also noteworthy about Next Movie is the big screen debut of Paul Reubens as obnoxious man-child Pee Wee Herman. While the Pee Wee character was still being fleshed out at the time, glimpses of his brewing genius can be seen.

Unfortunately things go from funny to horribly wrong with the introduction of Cheech’s hillbilly cousin Red (also played by Cheech). Red might be an acceptable character in a 5 minute comedy sketch but as a major player he rapidly becomes tiresome and his “holy sheep shit!” catchphrase will induce eyeball rolls after the second time, let alone the twentieth. Skip it unless you’ve already seen and really like Up in Smoke and Nice Dreams.