It’s pretty difficult to find coverage of Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie that’s not riddled with old weed puns. I guess that’s to be expected. Still, the wink-wink-nudge-nudge stoner references in headlines are a little trite when recreational marijuana is legal in nearly half the country and firmly embedded in the pop culture of all 50 states. As for the latter, much of that is because of Cheech and Chong. Without Up in Smoke, there would be no Half Baked or  Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle or Evil Bong. Cheech & Chong essentially invented the stoner comedy, but that’s only part of the story.

Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie is a documentary framed as a road trip movie. The premise is that the influential comedy duo, who released a string of hit records and then movies, between the 1970s and 1980s, are on a road trip in the desert. As they head to a place called The Joint, they recount their life stories through interviews, archival footage and a few interjections from others who were there. Directed by David L. Bushell, who previously produced movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Dallas Buyers Club, the movie uses a few different devices to blur fact and fiction. This is all done to drive home one universal truth: No two people see the same situation the same way.