Up in Smoke
Reviews
Filipe Manuel Neto
**A good example of how irresponsible and careless cinema can be when it wants to convey messages to the public.** I have already said, in other reviews of other films, that I see cinema as a leisure experience and as a form of artistic expression. At its core, this is cinema. However, there are so many films that seek to indoctrinate and convey political or social messages that it is not easy for us to forget that the industrial and propaganda machine linked to the movies is perfect for the mass “brainwashing” of crowds. It's something I don't like and it's even dangerous, taking into account that it can be used for good or bad, depending on the message being conveyed. And the message that this film sends us is one of tremendous social irresponsibility! Released in 1978, at a time when American cinema still felt the strong influence of hippies and the ideals of a libertarian and counterculture Left, the film begins by revealing two very different characters (a poor Latino and a well-born and spoiled rich man) who unite in their love for drugs, and especially marijuana (or weed). The script is non-existent and underwritten: the characters limit themselves to an incessant and eager search for more and more drugs, ending up returning from Mexico with a van made of weed and leaving a trail of smoke and people accidentally stoned, and apparently very happy with that. The film is one of those films that Hollywood should be ashamed of: it is a great apology for the consumption, liberal and recreational, of a varied cocktail of drugs, which starts with weed and ends with acids, “speeds” and heroin. The amount of substances mentioned in the film is vast and the way in which the subject is approached should have led to legal actions and arrest warrants against the actors, producers, studio and director, in order to answer for this irresponsible and inconsequential movie. And if the reader finds that too drastic, I leave you the question: would it be reasonable or good that they had released a comedy that made a sympathetic or pleasant portrayal of Nazism, or the Holocaust? Yes, one thing has nothing to do with the other! But there are reasonable limits for everything, including comedy, and there are themes that are simply not meant to make people laugh. I don't mean by this to say that I think the film was instrumental in increasing drug use, or that all the people who saw it went out and bought some weed. But if we, as a society, start to allow certain reprehensible acts and behaviors to be seen in a careless way, this gradually becomes ingrained in people's minds. In addition to this issue of moral and social irresponsibility, the film also has a perfect bad taste humor: I've never seen a film where the characters spend so much time in bathrooms, or vomiting. If that's funny, I didn't see any joke, but maybe it's my mistake, after all, I wasn't born or live in a cave, and my parents gave me a good education. Technically, the only aspects worthy of mention are the vehicles, starting with the VW Beetle modified with Rolls-Royce parts and ending with the very green van that appears in the biggest slice of the film. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong deserve the Golden Raspberry and are absolutely deplorable, as actors and as comedians. Personally, I am in favor of banning this film, on moral and educational grounds. However, it can even be seen if it is properly framed and accompanied by explanations about the danger of drug use. Lucky for us, there are lots of films with good messages about that, and yes, cannabis is a drug like any other.
Movie Recommendation
Nice Dreams1981-07-24Nice Dreams - it rhymes with ice creams. And that's what Cheech and Chong are selling in this thoroughly wacky comedy. The outrageous, permanently spaced-out duo sells enough of their "specially mixed" ice cream to take the cash and realize their fondest dreams: new guitars, islands in the sun and beautiful women. But, of course, not everything goes as planned. While celebrating their wealth in a new wave Chinese restaurant, Cheech meets his long-lost love Donna, and promptly escorts her to her posh penthouse. He soon learns, however, that Donna's boyfriend, an ex-con named Animal, is on his way to her boudoir. Meanwhile, Chong has unwittingly exchanged all their money for a worthless bank check - and the only way to get it back is to escape into a nearby insane asylum.More...
Cheech & Chong's Next Movie1980-07-18Perennially stoned Cheech and Chong tear through the city of Los Angeles, causing trouble wherever they go. After Cheech loses his job, the two pot enthusiasts head to the welfare offices where Cheech's girlfriend, Donna, works. Instead of collecting unemployment, they find themselves thrown back on the streets, searching for a way to earn new income. But when Cheech's cousin, "Red" Mendoza, arrives, things get even crazier.More...
The Secret of the Third Planet1981-07-31At the end of the 22nd century Alisa Seleznyova, her father Professor Seleznyov and pilot Zelyony go on a space expedition to find rare animals for Moscow Zoo. On the way they seem to encounter a mysterious conspiracy led by Doctor Verhovtsev against legendary Two Captains Kim and Buran. The only clue is a talking bird Сhatterer [Govorun] that our heroes accidentally took possession of.More...
Still Smokin1983-05-06Cheech & Chong are invited to a celebrity party in Amsterdam. When they get there, however, it turns out that the guy who invited them has taken off with all the money. They are actually expecting Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, so our heroes get to be Mr. Burt and Mr. Dolly.More...
My Friend Nietzsche2012-09-2211-year-old Lucas finds a philosophy book by Nietzsche in the city dump, discarded by its previous owner. This improbable meeting will be the beginning of a violent revolution in his mind, within his family and within society. In the end, Lucas will be no longer a boy -- He will be dynamite.More...
Nothing Personal1980-03-28Environmentally concerned lawyer Abigail Adams works with Professor Roger Keller in his effort to protect baby seals from slaughter.More...
The Party Animal1984-07-18The Party Animal is a documentary-style comedy about a sex-starved man, Pondo Sinatra, a 26-year-old college student whom everyone agrees is doomed to die a virgin. Desperate to break what seems to be a cosmic curse, he tries ever more bizarre schemes to seduce one the sexy, scantily-clad women who seem to be everywhere, taunting him and enjoying his misery. Despite his best efforts, however, he is rejected everywhere, even at the local cathouse. When Pondo threatens to kill himself, Studley, his ladykilling best friend, tries to help him in his quest to "get him a little", as does Studley's mentor, a wise old janitor named Elbow.More...
Bana Bir Şeyhler Oluyor2003-12-05“Anlatacaklarım var! Vaaz vermek değil niyetim, duyduğumu söylemek. Söylemeye değer şeyler duyuyorum zira. Belki hayatı daha yaşanır kılmak için ya da belki sade, ama sade anlatmak için... Sen anlat dedi Tanrı bana, anlaşılsın diye değil, hiçbir mükafat istemeden anlat... Çünkü bir mükafattır artık bir anlatıcıya doğru düzgün anlaşılmak! Sen anlat dedi... Sen sade anlat! Umudu hatırlatsın diye umutsuzluğu, çareye yol açsın diye çaresizliği anlat... Ders verme dedi kimseye, çünkü hoca denmez öğrenmesini bitirene. Çırakları olan bir çıraktır usta, olsa olsa... Sen anlat dedi bana Tanrı, sen sade anlat.... “ Yılmaz Erdoğan, “Bana Bir Şeyhler Oluyor” oyununun kahramanı Hilmi Duran’a söylettiği bu sözlerle, yazar olarak neden böyle bir oyun yazmak zorunda kaldığını açıklamakla kalmıyor, aynı zamanda kahramanının da kimliğini ele veriyor.More...
Oh, God!1977-10-07When God appears to an assistant grocery manager as a good natured old man, the Almighty selects him as his messenger for the modern world.More...
The Chaos Class Failed the Class1975-04-15A young and beautiful female teacher starts working in an all boys high school.More...
Unfaithfully Yours1948-12-10Before he left for a brief European visit, symphony conductor Sir Alfred De Carter casually asked his staid brother-in-law August to look out for his young wife, Daphne, during his absence. August has hired a private detective to keep tabs on her. But when the private eye's report suggests Daphne might have been canoodling with his secretary, Sir Alfred begins to imagine how he might take his revenge.More...
The Good German2006-12-15An American journalist arrives in Berlin just after the end of World War Two. He becomes involved in a murder mystery surrounding a dead GI who washes up at a lakeside mansion during the Potsdam negotiations between the Allied powers. Soon his investigation connects with his search for his married pre-war German lover.More...
The Girlfriend Experience2009-05-22Chelsea is an in-demand call girl whose $2,000 an hour price tag allows her to live in New York's lap of luxury. Besides her beauty and sexual skill, Chelsea offers her clients companionship and conversation, or, as she dubs it, "the girlfriend experience." With her successful business and a devoted, live-in boyfriend, Chelsea thinks she has it made... until a new client rocks her world.More...
Die Hard 21990-07-03One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Christmas Eve, as he waits for his wife's plane to land at Washington Dulles International Airport, terrorists take over the air traffic control system in a plot to free a South American army general and drug smuggler being flown into the US to face drug charges. It's now up to McClane to take on the terrorists, while coping with an inept airport police chief, an uncooperative anti-terrorist squad, and the life of his wife and everyone else trapped in planes circling overhead.More...
Half Baked1998-01-16Three lovable party buds try to bail their friend out of jail. But just when the guys have mastered a plan, everything comes dangerously close to going up in smoke.More...
Fearless Hyena1979-02-17Lung is a talented fighter but prefers to spend his time loafing around and picking fights, despite orders from his grandfather not to fight. Unknown to him, a brutal general has been slaughtering all the people from his grandfather’s clan. When the general recognizes Lung’s style of kung fu during one of his street fights, he hunts down Lung’s grandfather and kills him.More...
No End1985-06-171982, Poland. A translator loses her husband and becomes a victim of her own sorrow. She looks to sex, to her son, to law, and to hypnotism when she has nothing else in this time of martial law when Solidarity was banned.More...
American Splendor2003-08-15An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.More...
Animal House1978-07-28At a 1962 College, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.More...
Zone 4142021-09-03In the near future on a colony of state-of-the-art robots, a private investigator is hired by the colony's creator to bring his missing daughter home.More...
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