Like the Cheech and Chong movies of the early ‘80s, Dude, Where’s My Car? is a film by, for and about pot smokers. It’s a silly stoner fantasy: inane, often moronic, not for one instant believable. But picking on it would just be mean-spirited, because it’s a lot like a pothead: unambitious, harmless and occasionally funny to watch.
Jesse (That ‘70s Show‘s Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (American Pie‘s Seann William Scott) are a couple of dudes whose lack of introspection is matched only by their appreciation of various cannabis derivatives. One morning, after a night of heavy substance abuse at their twin girlfriends’ house party, they wake up with no memory of the previous evening… and Jesse’s car is gone. To find it, they have to piece together the epic events following the party. Their search for the missing vehicle leads them into an, er, excellent adventure that involves a dope-smoking dog, a transvestite stripper, a Heaven’s Gate-like nerd cult and a bunch of “hot chicks” who are out of this world in more ways than one.
Both Kutcher and Scott are gifted at playing dumb (to the point where both are already in danger of typecasting), and they have decent onscreen chemistry. Unfortunately, there are only so many blank stares and quizzical expressions one can stand in one movie. Nearly all of the movie’s three or four good moments depend on cameos from the likes of Howard Stern crony “Stuttering John” Melendez and… Fabio. Not all the cameos work, though; Andy Dick’s brief, wacked-out turn as a “freak in a cage” is the single most pointless interlude I’ve seen this year.
The rest of the ostensible jokes aim for the standard set by Beavis and Butt-head, but fall short—unless you think calling Kristy Swanson’s breasts “hoo-hoos” is the height of wit. Despite all of this, the movie is too innocently stupid to hate. Gratuitous nudity and excessive swearing are conspicuously absent, and the plot and characters are far too absurd to be taken seriously. Unlike their forebears Cheech and Chong, Jesse and Chester are never shown smoking pot—call it the politically correct stoner movie.
Then again, innocent stupidity is still stupidity. To fully enjoy this movie, it might help to show up wasted, or at least just buzzed enough to find everything strangely amusing. If you don’t indulge, you’ll find that the only things wasted are your time and money.
(1.5/4)