CHEECH & CHONG’S LAST MOVIE Documentary

Screening to be followed by a conversation with director and producer David Bushell and subjects Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong.

The stoner comedy duo Cheech & Chong enjoyed enormous success in the ‘70s and ‘80s, performing to packed sports arenas, winning a Grammy® for best comedy album and starring in a string of low-budget, hugely profitable movies. Theirs is an amazing “only in America”-type success story, and yet Canada is where the duo’s origin story begins. LA native Richard “Cheech” Marin met Edmonton-born Tommy Chong in 1969 in Vancouver, British Columbia, after watching Chong’s improv comedy troupe perform. Recognizing a shared knack for musical comedy numbers, the duo decided to team up. Moving to LA, they met legendary record and film producer Lou Adler, who would go on to produce their debut 1971 album and direct and produce their 1978 film debut UP IN SMOKE, which grossed $104 million. Cheech & Chong became a counterculture act with mainstream success, the first “rock ‘n’ roll comedians” as Adler billed them, beloved by their fan base and an object of bemused fascination for the media. But a bad business deal left the duo out of a big payday for the hit films, and over time, creative differences affected their friendship and collaboration. In CHEECH & CHONG’S LAST MOVIE, director David Bushell reels in the duo’s many strange-but-true stories, while the two senior citizen stoners take a desert road trip befitting the misadventures of their hazy, halcyon past. –Todd Hitchcock