Up in Smoke Reviews

"Up in smoke, that's where my money's gone." So goes the opening song of this weedfest/comedy, despised by most critics, parents and lovers of cinema but cherished by anyone who's ever had a bad case of the munchies. The story opens with Man Stoner (Tommy Chong) being tossed out of his parents' plush Hollywood Hills house only to stumble upon Pedro de Pacos ("Cheech" Marin), leader of a rock band and lover of "canabus." What ensues is an 86-minute ride from LA to Mexico and back, with our smoking heroes driving a van made entirely of "Fibreweed" (pure marijuana) across the border, outwitting the cops and the van's owners, and still managing to win a climactic "Battle of the Bands" contest. The funniest of all the Cheech and Chong movies, UP IN SMOKE provides a feast of gags for the sympathetically minded. Best exchange, on the subject of Pedros's cousin: "He went to Vietnam and came back weirded out." "Nam grass can do weird things to you."