America’s greatest stoner duo, Cheech and Chong, are headed to Amsterdam in this hilarious film that features the duo at their comic best on the stage.
Cheech and Chong, the comedy duo known for being stoners and in their films, cause loads of trouble, are invited to a film festival in Amsterdam. However, upon their arrival, trouble has already ensued. First, the theater manager in charge of the film festival has mistaken Cheech for Burt Reynolds, who was supposed to attend the festival with Dolly Parton. The duo got an invite from a friend but they also learn that the manager is low on funds and now with the mix-up, cannot promise the people of Amsterdam the presence of two of Hollywood’s top actors of the era.
The duo decide to help out the manager by doing what they did to start their careers and that is to put on a stage show before the film festival is to begin. Meanwhile, as the day awaits for the show, the stoner duo come up with ideas for the show as well as doing what they love to do and that is get stoned. Their adventures and ideas take them to various points of the city while trying not to cause too much trouble with the hotel staff, especially the maid and the hotel manager. However, on the night of the show, the duo are more than ready to make the people of Amsterdam, including Queen Beatrix, burst out in laughter.
After successful films such as Up in Smoke, Next Movie, Nice Dreams, and Things Are Tough All Over, the hilarious comic pairing of Cheech and Chong do the even more insane. They play themselves on a trip to Amsterdam (where it was legal at the time to “smoke” and still is) but at the behest of a friend who invited them to a film festival. The film revolves around the duo, who still have that great chemistry together, take in the sites and come up with ideas for a stage show.
The ideas for the stage show are quite hilarious as they are told in dream sequences. They include an LGBTQ version of Star Wars, a dream sequence at the film festival press conference that involves Cheech and Chong actually being famous in the Netherlands, and a dream sequence involving Chong playing an elderly blues musician while they are visiting a nightclub. One hilarious scene involving the duo going to a restaurant where the “green” is served as a major ingredient and Cheech, after eating a stew, looks at the pink flower on the table and imagines himself talking to a lifesize version of the flower. Then there is the hilarious hotel scene involving the maid, which includes references to something that can be seen in National Geographic to the tune of the “Greek dance”.
The stage show itself is a fun scene as it shows those who never have seen Cheech and Chong on the stage in their early days see them at their best. The various skits involved in the film, including Cheech on a solo space mission that ends hysterically to a conversation between a thug (Cheech) and an elderly man (Chong) to the duo playing dogs who haven’t seen each other in a long time are just a delight to watch. The supporting cast, mainly consisting of local Dutch actors, do not provide much except serve as comic fodder for the duo.
Still Smokin’ is a pretty good finale of the Cheech and Chong saga with the duo playing themselves and doing what they do best and having fun while doing it.
WFG RATING: B+
A Paramount Pictures production. Director: Tommy Chong. Producer: Peter Macgregor-Scott. Writers: Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Cinematography: Harvey Harrison. Editing: James Coblentz, Ian Crafford, and David Ramirez.
Cast: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Hans Man In’t Veld, Carol van Herwijnen, Shireen Strooker, Susan Hahn, Arjan Ederveen, Kees Prins, Mariette Bout, Fabiola, Carla van Amstel.
WorldFilmGeek 