“Last Movie” A Comprehensive, Entertaining Retrospective of Comedy Duo Cheech & Chong

The Summer Film Festival starts this Friday (July 11) and, as usual, the festival features quite a few interesting and intriguing selections. For this film festival, I plan on checking out at least five or six festival selections.

And, to kick things off, I recently took a look at the documentary “Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie” - the show dates and times are at the end of this review.

Cheech and Chong’s enduring partnership begins like the start of a classic joke set up only they would say: “a Chicano kid from South Central LA and a half-Chinese motown musician meet at a club in Canada,” and ends with one of the most iconic duos in entertainment history.

In the 1970s, Cheech and Chong redefined stand-up comedy, blending drugs, sex, rock’n’roll, and improvisation into a game-shaping act, Their multicultural, irreverent humor turned them into icons, counterculture rock stars, and Hollywood legends.

Raucous, accessible, and explosively funny, their ground-breaking stoner humor has translated into sold out concerts, platinum-selling records and box office smashing films. The two have reached professional and personal heights well beyond their wildest dreams, while suffering their share of fallouts and stumbles, becoming a comedy rite of passage for multiple generations.

“Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie” provides both a comprehensive retrospective and an actually touching last hangout with his legendary comedy duo. This documentary/retrospective dives into their lives and careers (even before the comedy duo was formed) and even provides a lot of information about them that most people might not know.

As I was getting ready to watch this film, I really didn’t know what to expect. The only movie that this duo collaborated on that I watched on streaming awhile ago for the first time was the movie “Up in Smoke,” which is definitely a funny watch. And, surprisingly, their “Last Movie” is actually a well-told story about their journey together, even

covering some of their personal lives.

In between us seeing their lives, we also get to see them on one last road trip and just watching the bickering at each other (even if some of it was scripted) still shows that this comedy duo can still make anyone laugh. It’s also great to learn about their families and their lives before the duo met. While watching this film, I found out that Cheech’s father was, of all positions, an LAPD officer.

This documentary also highlights the duo’s unique humor (which isn’t for everyone) and the cultural impact they had. We also get to see some other past interviews from their earlier years and the film also dives into the period where the duo split for a while - which I had no idea happened.

So, if you are familiar with the comedians themselves or have enjoyed any of their works (stand-up, movies, etc.), then I’m sure you’ll enjoy this retrospective of their lives. This insightful documentary and nostalgic look at the iconic comedy duo is highly enjoyable and is a great way to bid farewell to the one and only Cheech & Chong.

MPA: Rated R for drug content throughout, sexual material, language and some nudity   (runtime 2 hours).

Show dates/times for “Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie”: Saturday, July 12 at 9:30; Friday, July 18 at 4:30; Saturday, July 26 at 9:15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSU0B8YEHmM