‘Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie’: Doc smokes out the history of US stoner duo

Dir: David Bushell. US. 2025. 120mins

An amiable tribute to the influential 1970s comedy duo, Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie will probably not convince younger viewers to tune into their back catalogue, but fans should enjoy this nostalgic walk down memory lane. The documentary allows Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong to tell their own story – even if the longtime partners don’t always agree on the details – and those festering disputes add a welcome tension to what is otherwise a comprehensive but straightforward overview.

An amiable tribute to the influential 1970s comedy duo

Last Movie opens in the US on April 25 although, in keeping with the duo’s traditional stoner humour, the film did play in select theatres on April 20 at 4:20pm — a sly nod to cannabis culture’s affection for all things 4/20. Cheech & Chong starred in several hit films in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Up In Smoke (1978) and Things Are Tough All Over (1982), but their last feature was 2013’s poorly-received Cheech & Chong’s Animated Movie – and it seems unlikely this documentary will change their box-office fortunes. But for those hungry to see Marin (now 78) and Chong (86) on the big screen one more time, Last Movie provides an apt sendoff.

Directed by David Bushell, making his feature-length debut, the documentary finds Marin and Chong driving through the desert, unsure where they’re going but hoping to meet up with Bushell. These segments — which are meant to appear improvisational but clearly have been partly scripted — serve as a narrative framework for a retelling of their own history. Last Movie explains how Marin, a Chicano kid growing up in South Central Los Angeles with an abusive cop father, came to meet Chong, a half-Chinese musician and improv actor living in Vancouver. Forming a comedy team under the name Cheech & Chong, they developed a popular stand-up act that tapped into the counterculture spirit sweeping America’s youth in the early 1970s. Hit records and a film career followed – although, eventually, duelling egos proved the duo’s undoing.

Interestingly, Bushell (a producer on Sling Blade, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Dallas Buyers Club) chooses to interview Marin and Chong separately, using archival footage and James Blagden’s trippy animation. The strategy emphasises that, despite being most famous as Cheech & Chong, Marin and Chong now see themselves firmly as individuals. Early on in Last Movie, Marin tells us about his childhood, and Chong does the same but, once the two burgeoning comics’ paths intertwine, so do their recollections — as well as their differing points of view on the arguments that led to their dissolution.

As a snapshot of the 1970s American comedy scene, Last Movie suggests what was so fresh about the duo. Each man was part of an ethnicity not embraced by mainstream white culture, and so Cheech & Chong’s outsider attitude meshed perfectly with an era of youthful rebellion. The duo’s unapologetically sophomoric sex-and-drugs gags were anarchic at a time when their adolescent audience was resisting conformist parents and the looming fear of being drafted into the ill-advised Vietnam War. Their brand of anti-authoritarian comedy nicely translated to box-office blockbusters like Up In Smoke, which tapped into the zeitgeist as potently as National Lampoon’s Animal House.

Those who love hearing behind-the-scenes stories of artists at work will enjoy learning about the inspiration that went into classic Cheech & Chong bits such as ‘Dave’ and ‘Basketball Jones.’ And the duo’s early clips, shot on lo-fi video cameras, offer charming glimpses of the duo’s goofy onstage antics and warm rapport.

Ultimately, the present-day framing device is more of a distraction than a strength. Occasionally, Marin and Chong will be magically joined on their car ride by someone — an ex-wife, say, or a disgruntled former associate — who contradicts their version of past events. And Marin’s genuine annoyance about the fact that Chong started directing their pictures cuts through Last Movie’s otherwise genial tone. But too often the device indulges cutesy, artificial digressions that waste the viewer’s time. Better to let Marin and Chong be their own men rather, than force them to do strained comedic set pieces that pale in comparison to their past highs.