Nice Dreams
Welcome to the world of Cheech and Chong, Two full time stoners who someone allowed to make a few films back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. ‘Nice Dreams’ was their third film and one of their top three for laughs and jokes.
Welcome to the world of Cheech and Chong, Two full time stoners who someone allowed to make a few films back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. ‘Nice Dreams’ was their third film and one of their top three for laughs and jokes.
The plot centres around Cheech and Chong and their ambition to deal enough weed so that they can move to South America and set up their own version of paradise. However, although they are nice dreams, attaining them is a little difficult. The film starts by the sea, where the two dealers are selling weed in a truck disguised as an ice cream van. They are, it is soon revealed, being tagged by the cops who attempt throughout the film to pinch them. Luck though is on the side of the two stoners who manage to evade capture, via a number of slapstick comic sketches. Most notably one attempt where the cops get side tracked watching 3 topless women on the beach. The stoners escape with there cash and then in a bizarre twist trade in their cash for a cheque written by a man who they later find in a lunatic asylum. After they have been embezzled out of their money, they then try to get it back, even though they get side tracked by one of Cheech’s old girlfriends who they decide to have a threesome with. On route they do loads of weed, a little bit of coke, some acid and attempt to cook pizza on a cooker ring.
It soon turns out that the cops who are tagging Cheech and Chong acquire some of their weed, which they hand over to their boss, one Stacey Keach. A cop who believes “that the only way to catch a doper, is to become a smoker”. However this back fires on Keach as the weed that Cheech and Chong are peddling is special weed that turns people into lizards.
For those who love their weed this film is a must. A classic from the past, that we will rarely see anything of the like again in the future. Marijuana is clearly visible in many of the scenes and most of their adventures occur because they are out of their heads. For those who don’t appreciate weed, this film is a load of meaningless rubbish that will be turned off after the opening credits (credits where peoples names appear on weed smoke that are then inhaled to the back of the screen). However, as the statistics show, this kind of humour is perfect when the viewer is in a certain state of mind, the same state of mind as probably most of the people involved with the making of this film. The hippy sub culture will be pleased to hear that Dr Timothy Leary makes a brief appearance as a Dr. who offers the 2 heroes of the film the key to being free. In this case surprise, surprise it is some liquid acid. Leary giggles his way through his 2 scenes, in a very similar way to the famous pictures of him when he got arrested in the 60’s and was taken to the cells.
The film unfortunately has no extras at all. The filmmakers were probably so wrecked they couldn’t be bothered to turn up for the commentary. So this is a major disappointment. It is understandable why there was no on set footage. If they had filmed the shoot, the footage would have propably been so incriminating that it would have been used against them in court. As we know whenever you see Marijuana in films it is always a plastic prop plant, isn’t that right Guy Richie…….Yeah, right.
The picture is fine, although only transferred to DVD, as opposed to getting the full mastering treatment, and the sound remains in it’s original stereo (as it is only a comedy anyway, this doesn’t matter in the same way it does when you are watching a Lynch film or a horror etc).
All in all you gotta be in the right mind frame to watch this little bit of Hollywood hippie history, otherwise you will be only increasing your ‘despair at the state of humanity’ levels.
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