2. Cheech & Chong's Last Movie
Dave Bushell’s documentary dives deeply into the lives of Richard “Cheech” Marin and Thomas Kim Chong, the iconic comedy duo who met in Vancouver in 1969. Marin was evading the U.S. military draft and Chong was running a club. They eventually teamed up, with Marin playing the fast-talking funnyman to Chong’s laid-back dude.
Bushnell frames the movie with a road trip. Now in their seventies (Marin is 78) and eighties (Chong is 87), they take a drive in the desert and reminisce. As they motor along, the longtime partners get testy with each other.
The director deftly cuts back and forth between the two mens' histories — Chong from Calgary, son of a Chinese father and Scottish mother, and Marin, a first-generation Mexican-American (a.k.a. Chicano) raised in East Los Angeles. Back in L.A., they toured like stand-up comedy rock stars.
Next for them was movies, like the 1978 hit Up in Smoke. This is where the story gets dicey. By then Marin says Chong’s ego had runneth over, so in 1986, after six movies and seven albums, they split up until reunuting in 2003.
To Bushell’s credit, he lets them go, like a hockey fight. It might all be an act for their Last Movie, but it works and makes for a distinctive doc.
Watch Cheech & Chong's Last Movie at Prime Video and other streaming services
