TOMASBBloodhound With so many people here in the US hell bent on legalizing recreational marijuana, and some states actually doing so, where does that leave the decades of stoner humor we've had in so many films? This is a question we will ponder later in this review. But first, I implore you to sit back and watch this fitfully funny Cheech and Chong effort in which the duo sell their high-quality weed from an ice cream truck, evade the cops, chase scantily clad women, make a fortune, get locked in a mental institution, lose the fortune, somehow get it back, and then apparently lose it once again. As far a crisp direction (from Chong), and a tight story line, forget it. This largely improvisational film is a series of oddball vignettes and typical drug humor. With Chong at the helm, instead of Lou Adler from Up In Smoke, this film meanders more than it should, but still contains plenty of laughs. Many of them are supplied once again by Stacey Keach, reprising his Sgt. Stedanko role from Up In Smoke. Apparently he has never recovered from his freak-out in front of the rock club while standing too close to the duo's burning pot van. Now he has gotten a hold of a specialized form of pot the duo have been growing in their laboratory at the bottom of an empty swimming pool. It turns anyone who smokes it into an iguana. Yep, its better if you don't ask any more about this plot.As I was chuckling through this film, one major question kept gnawing at me.... what would nation-wide legalization do to the concept of stoner humor? Think back to all of the films and characters in movie history that have used marijuana to define themselves as counter-culture. Think back to Easy Rider, and Fonda and Hopper introducing Jack Nicholson to pot while sitting around a campfire. Think of everything Cheech and Chong have done. Think of Jeff Spicoli. Harold and Kumar. The Pineapple Express.... Would legalizing this stuff throw all of that out the window? Or would it grant them their place in American history as some sort of pioneers? As someone who hasn't touched the stuff in over a decade, it's hard for me to say. I do not look down at people (many of whom I know) who still use Marijuana, but I cannot help but think it wouldn't be as fun if it were legal. I think of something I heard from filmmaker John Waters once homosexual marriage was declared legal here in the states. Waters, out decades before it was considered acceptable, was almost lamenting the fact that it wasn't as fun to be gay anymore. It was almost too mainstream for him! Anyway, my instincts tell me that marijuana use may lose its edge if it becomes legal everywhere. Were it legal, would stoner humor even exist anymore? Would a couple of stoned characters be any more humorous that an couple guys drinking a beer? Well, Strange Brew was funny enough, I guess....7 Of 10 stars.The Hound.

eric262003 Strange this was released during the Reagan era (1981-1989). But I digress, "Nice Dreams" explores the fundamentals of counterculture, as it is plotted very tightly as the previous installments "Up In Smoke", but not as continual as "Still Smokin" and "Next Movie". "Nice Dreams" has a familiar story that is like a trend in the Cheech and Chong franchise. The slackers receive a huge fortune selling their dope and with the sudden twist, they eventually lose it all. Along their journey, they confront bizarre situations and people which include a pot-smoking Pee-Wee Herman, Sandra Bernhard and Dr. Timothy Leary.Not every gag is delivered coherently. But the awkward dope jokes don't come to the point that will make you cringe or purposefully just show up without warning. Sure Tommy Chong is no Martin Scorsese, but he does enlighten us with scenes that are fresh and risk-taking in attempt and effort. Such memorable scenes include a nude Cheech clinging onto an elevator exterior, Cheech swimming in pool of marijuana joints, and Stacey Keach slowly transforming into a lizard was taken to an artistic intention that was impressive.The plot and the structure were simple in premise, but what carries "Nice Dreams" are the dopeheads meandering casually through a cannabis farm. They chime and chat about random mindless bunk while the wonderful sounds of country-rock is heard in the apropos background. Unlike the other Cheech and Chong movies where drugs and dope are ugly this one marvels at the serenity of marijuana fields, in spite of the clichéd setting of the movie in the rural area of Southern California. Though I was a very young boy in 1981, but there were a lot of growing concerns at the time, here we see a duo of slackers who felt to just live the life, oblivious to what was happening at the time.

Joe Bob Jones I love the team of Cheech and Chong, but god, is Nice Dreams just a plain bad oregano misfire. I'm not sure why I even give it a 3. Uselessly discordant, it doesn't even successfully showcase their skit talents but for a few scenes in the movie. The plot is really not worth covering, and many other reviews have devoted time to attempt to explain it. Suffice it to say, this film was either made solely because of an unwanted production obligation, and thus made as poorly as could be, or (I doubt) made in such a coke induced stupor as to be retarded. Not stoned, but retarded. It begins, then it introduces absurd plot points (like the boys living in a PALACE on the beaches of California), Stacey Keach in a pointless police role who slowly morphs into a lizard due to smoking the unexplained tainted weed they are peddling in their frightening nightmare of an ice cream truck. Even these early "hey man, it's the cops, RUN!" moments are then just tossed out the broken window of this madness. Women run about, Pee Wee makes the scene, twice (how did he get out to make the first scene of his, you must watch to find out why I even ask), and blah blah blah. It sucks. It's not funny, even when stoned to the gills.Unless you're REALLY stoned to the point of becoming a lizard, do not seek this C+C opus out at all. Rather, be high, listen to Big Bambu on your 8 track and laugh your ass off, and say that you're not here.

TBoldOne The third Cheech and Chong movie. To me it was obvious that these guys had only a limited script when filming this movie. The charm, and I do mean charm of Up in Smoke is so not evident here. It was almost like these guys said, "We'll do a scene with two hot girls in a car and a 600 pound dad, and it will be funny." "We'll go to a pot farm where the owner is wonderfully bizarre and it will be funny." "We'll film two helicopters over nude sunbathers, and it will be funny." One reviewer said he thought that the main characters were high when they made this movie. I don't think that, I just think they got lazy. Great comedy is hard work. It is OK to be spontaneous, but it is really easy to fall into a trap. The trap is, we've made people laugh in the past, everything we do is funny, so we don't need to work.Strangely enough, the best scene in the movie is when they break into the insane asylum and wake up with the crazy inmates in their faces. The people in the asylum genuinely freak both Cheech and Chong out. The inmates looked real and filming with a fish-eye lens adds to the effect.The scene with Timothy Leary makes no sense to a modern audience. It's just not funny, and strangely sad. Did he need the paycheck? The scene in the restaurant is terrible. One gripe. The women in "girl band" are a bunch of hounds. These guys were millionaires when they filmed the movie. Why didn't they cast smoking hot girls in their films by then? I mean hasn't anybody heard of a casting couch? But I digress.Another Gripe. Pee-Wee Herman (Pre-Pee) reminded me of why I hate him. Either you think he's funny or isn't. I never got him.The ending was terrible. It was like OK - we got the money back, but we're Stoners so we lose it and now we'll be male strippers and that will be funny? The only reason I can't give this movie a 1 is the Kafka-esquire scenes. The lizard/Sergeant scenes, and the nut-house scenes make this worth a view on a "bad movie" night at your house. I got this tape for 10c at a garage sale. I wouldn't pay more than a quarter for the movie, but if you can get it for that, go for it.