SummaryCheech & Chong unknowingly smuggle a van - made entirely of marijuana - from Mexico to L.A., with incompetent Sgt. Stedenko on their trail.
Directed By:Lou Adler, Tommy Chong
Written By:Tommy Chong, Cheech Marin
Up in Smoke
Metascore
Mixed or Average
57
User score
Generally Favorable
7.2
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Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
57
45% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
55% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
80
Unless you are suitably bent, you might notice that the movie has little continuity and a plot that is no more than a grab bag of familiar Cheech and Chong routines. If you're suitably prepared, probably none of this will matter. There is something irrepressibly good-natured about the peppery Cheech and the zonked-out Chone as they low-ride through East Los Angeles and Tijuana in pursuit of the eternal high... In this funky, slapdash and occasionally very funny movie, dope is not an issue, it's a way of life. [2 Oct 1978, p.86]
75
The funniest of all the Cheech and Chong movies, UP IN SMOKE provides a feast of gags for the sympathetically minded.
70
Fairly consistently funny.
60
In a brilliant reenactment of what must be one of their definitive routines, these Furry Freak Brothers from opposite sides of town proceed to get acquainted over a joint the size of a blunderbuss muzzle. It's a new classic among comedy-team encourters: hilarious rapport at first toke. [11 Oct 1978, p.B1]
50
As the most fun comes not from watching the movie but from recalling great lines later, it would seem that the audio success of C & C has not translated too well into visuals.
40
Unfortunately, Up In Smoke winds up as a hapless attempt to wrap a few very funny Cheech and Chong routines around a tired plot of counter-culture cliches. [6 Oct 1978, p.19]
40
What’s lacking in Up in Smoke is a cohesiveness in both humor and characterization. Once the more obvious drug jokes are exhausted, director Lou Adler lets the film degenerate into a mixture of fitful slapstick and toilet humor.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.2
63% Positive
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
38% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
May 7, 2021
10
Now here is a high point in 1970s comedy! Good for a lot of goofy, stoned laughter.
Oct 4, 2024
5
The original stoner comedy, from the duo that helped push pot out of the fringe and into the mainstream. Up in Smoke casts Cheech and Chong as very mildly fictionalized versions of themselves, absent-mindedly cruising the streets of Los Angeles (and, eventually, Tijuana) in search of a fresh score. There, they meet an increasingly loony assortment of crackpots and crazies, dodge about a dozen police busts, smoke or swallow everything in front of them and, finally, show up on stage for the main event in a local battle of the bands. I’ve probably seen this 2-3x in bits and pieces over the years, but as this was my first single-sitting experience, I got myself good and high before diving in. Even in the right state of mind, I didn’t think it was a very big hit: a good ride for the first half-hour, but the novelty quickly wears off. Watching the boys bond over a colossal joint, which Chong just so happens to carry in a secret pocket somewhere, is a hoot. Their glazed expressions and loose associations with reality are dead-on, familiar to anyone who’s ever been stoned at a party, or seen someone thus engaged. The headliners lather it on thick, delighted to share their happily-confused states of mind with a similarly inclined audience, and for a while that’s good enough. Eventually, even the burnout in me started to yearn for more than pot gags and bad slapstick. The best bits still land - the famous “fiberweed” van that powers the home stretch is a great example - but a majority of these ideas probably sounded better on paper than they actually play on the screen. After the third or fourth go-around, the punchline of another accidentally-stoned cop loses its charm. This was probably a revelation in ’78, when blunt weed references were still edgy and rebellious and cocaine was downright taboo. Now that the latter has fallen out of fashion and the former is available in chic, glitzy Apple Store sales environments, it’s just a couple funny guys floating through a very thin premise. Watching this was like getting high with my dad. Not really a bad time, but a little awkward and you’re going to hear the same stories over and over again.
