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4.5 out of 5 stars
139 customer ratings
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Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams
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- Cheech & Chong's Nice Dreams
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Top positive review
Meandering fun
December 10, 2000
Hard to believe this came out during the Reagan administration. Here, nevertheless, is one of the last gasps of the counterculture, and if it is not as tightly plotted (if that is the right word) as the auteurs' Up In Smoke, neither is it as ploddingly episodic as Next Movie and Still Smokin', their other films of note. (Of Things Are Tough All Over and The Corsican Brothers, the less said the better.) There actually is something resembling a story here: the boys amass a fortune selling marijuana and, in the final act's surprise twist, they lose it. Along their picaresque way they encounter unlikely scenarios and people--people including, but not limited to, Paul Reubens, Sandra Bernhard and Dr. Timothy Leary.
Not all of the gags hit their target, at least to viewers who are not themselves on drugs, but the beauty of unsuccessful drug jokes is that they do not so much bomb as waft away. Director Chong is no Bergman, but he does present us with sights I do not recall seeing anywhere else: a nude Cheech clings desperately to a glass elevator's exterior; a panicked Cheech backstrokes desperately atop a subterreanean pot farm disguised as a swimming pool; an extraordinarily mellow Stacy Keach slowly turns into a lizard.
Plot elements and set-pieces aside, what stays with this reviewer are images of the comedians wandering serenely through a splendid cannabis plantation. They stroll amid the greenery and gently argue about something or other, as quiet country-rock murmurs on the soundtrack. If Cheech and Chong's prior movies were about the sleaziness of the drug scene, this one is about the sylvan beauty of marijuana farms--even if the farms are concealed somewhere in suburban Southern California. There was plenty to worry about in 1981, of course, but this film reminds us that some people were less worried than others.
Not all of the gags hit their target, at least to viewers who are not themselves on drugs, but the beauty of unsuccessful drug jokes is that they do not so much bomb as waft away. Director Chong is no Bergman, but he does present us with sights I do not recall seeing anywhere else: a nude Cheech clings desperately to a glass elevator's exterior; a panicked Cheech backstrokes desperately atop a subterreanean pot farm disguised as a swimming pool; an extraordinarily mellow Stacy Keach slowly turns into a lizard.
Plot elements and set-pieces aside, what stays with this reviewer are images of the comedians wandering serenely through a splendid cannabis plantation. They stroll amid the greenery and gently argue about something or other, as quiet country-rock murmurs on the soundtrack. If Cheech and Chong's prior movies were about the sleaziness of the drug scene, this one is about the sylvan beauty of marijuana farms--even if the farms are concealed somewhere in suburban Southern California. There was plenty to worry about in 1981, of course, but this film reminds us that some people were less worried than others.
10 people found this helpful
Top critical review
Historically great and about the only way to see them in their early form!
August 13, 2013
"Cheech & Chong Perform" is show 1 from a two show night at Spanky's club. 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' from show 2 is the other VHS or Beta tape you can get and combine with "Perform" to have all the skits they performed in an entire show back then.
Historically it's great showcasing Cheech & Chong's raw talent on stage live where anything can happen. Their cheap props are some funny stuff all by themselves! They mention their new movie coming out (Up In Smoke) and that they won't have to be doing their live act much longer.
What can you say about Cheech & Chong if you we're into their albums from the 70's this live performance is some of that material but in a live club setting.
You either 'got them' or you didn't, that simple!
Visually it's just an older type video camera but they do zoom in and aim the camera at assorted people in attendance. It's amateur style and not a big budget production.
The color is washed out but it's a by product of the low end camera and not from age or tape damage. There's an occasional dropout here and there with lines running across the screen but not enough to get one up in arms over it all. It's over in seconds. I suppose bad tracking or connection via the camera/video tape machine's fault.
If you ever wanted to see the duo live back then and missed out this and 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' are the only legitimate exsisting media I know of available from their live act days.
The real down side to going after one of these is 1) The crazy prices these are fetching these days and, 2) You really need the 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' tape also as a companion to this one to get all the skits from an entire performance. It's not cheap either if you can find one!
It's very possible to spend upwards to $400+ at the current prices for these two tapes if you just have to have them both.
I managed to get both VHS tapes for less than $100 here on Amazon so if you're patient it could pay off. Not sure how rare these are getting these days though?
So with that in mind beware that you are going to get less than standard VHS quality because this was not filmed with high end type movie cameras just older video cameras of the day.
If you can't find or afford these expensive tapes I also suggest watching the skits on YouTube that's a great alternative if you don't want to put out that much money for these things. It will also give you a chance to see first hand the quality that I refer to in this review. Could be a deciding factor for you?
My 3 star rating has more to do with visual quality and not so much content. Had this been filmed properly with multiple high end cameras and more professional direction it would easily be 5 stars.
They do some of their early live set on the ending of 'Still Smokin' movie but the Perform tapes are the only real way to see a raw, complete, early and rare Cheech & Chong performance.
Dave's Not Here!!
MAD
Historically it's great showcasing Cheech & Chong's raw talent on stage live where anything can happen. Their cheap props are some funny stuff all by themselves! They mention their new movie coming out (Up In Smoke) and that they won't have to be doing their live act much longer.
What can you say about Cheech & Chong if you we're into their albums from the 70's this live performance is some of that material but in a live club setting.
You either 'got them' or you didn't, that simple!
Visually it's just an older type video camera but they do zoom in and aim the camera at assorted people in attendance. It's amateur style and not a big budget production.
The color is washed out but it's a by product of the low end camera and not from age or tape damage. There's an occasional dropout here and there with lines running across the screen but not enough to get one up in arms over it all. It's over in seconds. I suppose bad tracking or connection via the camera/video tape machine's fault.
If you ever wanted to see the duo live back then and missed out this and 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' are the only legitimate exsisting media I know of available from their live act days.
The real down side to going after one of these is 1) The crazy prices these are fetching these days and, 2) You really need the 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' tape also as a companion to this one to get all the skits from an entire performance. It's not cheap either if you can find one!
It's very possible to spend upwards to $400+ at the current prices for these two tapes if you just have to have them both.
I managed to get both VHS tapes for less than $100 here on Amazon so if you're patient it could pay off. Not sure how rare these are getting these days though?
So with that in mind beware that you are going to get less than standard VHS quality because this was not filmed with high end type movie cameras just older video cameras of the day.
If you can't find or afford these expensive tapes I also suggest watching the skits on YouTube that's a great alternative if you don't want to put out that much money for these things. It will also give you a chance to see first hand the quality that I refer to in this review. Could be a deciding factor for you?
My 3 star rating has more to do with visual quality and not so much content. Had this been filmed properly with multiple high end cameras and more professional direction it would easily be 5 stars.
They do some of their early live set on the ending of 'Still Smokin' movie but the Perform tapes are the only real way to see a raw, complete, early and rare Cheech & Chong performance.
Dave's Not Here!!
MAD
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August 13, 2013
"Cheech & Chong Perform" is show 1 from a two show night at Spanky's club. 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' from show 2 is the other VHS or Beta tape you can get and combine with "Perform" to have all the skits they performed in an entire show back then.
Historically it's great showcasing Cheech & Chong's raw talent on stage live where anything can happen. Their cheap props are some funny stuff all by themselves! They mention their new movie coming out (Up In Smoke) and that they won't have to be doing their live act much longer.
What can you say about Cheech & Chong if you we're into their albums from the 70's this live performance is some of that material but in a live club setting.
You either 'got them' or you didn't, that simple!
Visually it's just an older type video camera but they do zoom in and aim the camera at assorted people in attendance. It's amateur style and not a big budget production.
The color is washed out but it's a by product of the low end camera and not from age or tape damage. There's an occasional dropout here and there with lines running across the screen but not enough to get one up in arms over it all. It's over in seconds. I suppose bad tracking or connection via the camera/video tape machine's fault.
If you ever wanted to see the duo live back then and missed out this and 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' are the only legitimate exsisting media I know of available from their live act days.
The real down side to going after one of these is 1) The crazy prices these are fetching these days and, 2) You really need the 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' tape also as a companion to this one to get all the skits from an entire performance. It's not cheap either if you can find one!
It's very possible to spend upwards to $400+ at the current prices for these two tapes if you just have to have them both.
I managed to get both VHS tapes for less than $100 here on Amazon so if you're patient it could pay off. Not sure how rare these are getting these days though?
So with that in mind beware that you are going to get less than standard VHS quality because this was not filmed with high end type movie cameras just older video cameras of the day.
If you can't find or afford these expensive tapes I also suggest watching the skits on YouTube that's a great alternative if you don't want to put out that much money for these things. It will also give you a chance to see first hand the quality that I refer to in this review. Could be a deciding factor for you?
My 3 star rating has more to do with visual quality and not so much content. Had this been filmed properly with multiple high end cameras and more professional direction it would easily be 5 stars.
They do some of their early live set on the ending of 'Still Smokin' movie but the Perform tapes are the only real way to see a raw, complete, early and rare Cheech & Chong performance.
Dave's Not Here!!
MAD
Historically it's great showcasing Cheech & Chong's raw talent on stage live where anything can happen. Their cheap props are some funny stuff all by themselves! They mention their new movie coming out (Up In Smoke) and that they won't have to be doing their live act much longer.
What can you say about Cheech & Chong if you we're into their albums from the 70's this live performance is some of that material but in a live club setting.
You either 'got them' or you didn't, that simple!
Visually it's just an older type video camera but they do zoom in and aim the camera at assorted people in attendance. It's amateur style and not a big budget production.
The color is washed out but it's a by product of the low end camera and not from age or tape damage. There's an occasional dropout here and there with lines running across the screen but not enough to get one up in arms over it all. It's over in seconds. I suppose bad tracking or connection via the camera/video tape machine's fault.
If you ever wanted to see the duo live back then and missed out this and 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' are the only legitimate exsisting media I know of available from their live act days.
The real down side to going after one of these is 1) The crazy prices these are fetching these days and, 2) You really need the 'Cheech & Chong Perform Again' tape also as a companion to this one to get all the skits from an entire performance. It's not cheap either if you can find one!
It's very possible to spend upwards to $400+ at the current prices for these two tapes if you just have to have them both.
I managed to get both VHS tapes for less than $100 here on Amazon so if you're patient it could pay off. Not sure how rare these are getting these days though?
So with that in mind beware that you are going to get less than standard VHS quality because this was not filmed with high end type movie cameras just older video cameras of the day.
If you can't find or afford these expensive tapes I also suggest watching the skits on YouTube that's a great alternative if you don't want to put out that much money for these things. It will also give you a chance to see first hand the quality that I refer to in this review. Could be a deciding factor for you?
My 3 star rating has more to do with visual quality and not so much content. Had this been filmed properly with multiple high end cameras and more professional direction it would easily be 5 stars.
They do some of their early live set on the ending of 'Still Smokin' movie but the Perform tapes are the only real way to see a raw, complete, early and rare Cheech & Chong performance.
Dave's Not Here!!
MAD
December 10, 2000
Hard to believe this came out during the Reagan administration. Here, nevertheless, is one of the last gasps of the counterculture, and if it is not as tightly plotted (if that is the right word) as the auteurs' Up In Smoke, neither is it as ploddingly episodic as Next Movie and Still Smokin', their other films of note. (Of Things Are Tough All Over and The Corsican Brothers, the less said the better.) There actually is something resembling a story here: the boys amass a fortune selling marijuana and, in the final act's surprise twist, they lose it. Along their picaresque way they encounter unlikely scenarios and people--people including, but not limited to, Paul Reubens, Sandra Bernhard and Dr. Timothy Leary.
Not all of the gags hit their target, at least to viewers who are not themselves on drugs, but the beauty of unsuccessful drug jokes is that they do not so much bomb as waft away. Director Chong is no Bergman, but he does present us with sights I do not recall seeing anywhere else: a nude Cheech clings desperately to a glass elevator's exterior; a panicked Cheech backstrokes desperately atop a subterreanean pot farm disguised as a swimming pool; an extraordinarily mellow Stacy Keach slowly turns into a lizard.
Plot elements and set-pieces aside, what stays with this reviewer are images of the comedians wandering serenely through a splendid cannabis plantation. They stroll amid the greenery and gently argue about something or other, as quiet country-rock murmurs on the soundtrack. If Cheech and Chong's prior movies were about the sleaziness of the drug scene, this one is about the sylvan beauty of marijuana farms--even if the farms are concealed somewhere in suburban Southern California. There was plenty to worry about in 1981, of course, but this film reminds us that some people were less worried than others.
Not all of the gags hit their target, at least to viewers who are not themselves on drugs, but the beauty of unsuccessful drug jokes is that they do not so much bomb as waft away. Director Chong is no Bergman, but he does present us with sights I do not recall seeing anywhere else: a nude Cheech clings desperately to a glass elevator's exterior; a panicked Cheech backstrokes desperately atop a subterreanean pot farm disguised as a swimming pool; an extraordinarily mellow Stacy Keach slowly turns into a lizard.
Plot elements and set-pieces aside, what stays with this reviewer are images of the comedians wandering serenely through a splendid cannabis plantation. They stroll amid the greenery and gently argue about something or other, as quiet country-rock murmurs on the soundtrack. If Cheech and Chong's prior movies were about the sleaziness of the drug scene, this one is about the sylvan beauty of marijuana farms--even if the farms are concealed somewhere in suburban Southern California. There was plenty to worry about in 1981, of course, but this film reminds us that some people were less worried than others.
July 13, 2019
This DVD is just a bad video transfer, they should have cleaned it up a bit. You can see all that graininess in most of the movie. And then there's the fact that the movie seemed so much funnier years ago. Oh, well.
September 27, 2011
I love some of the Cheech and Chong movies, others, I dont really care for, this one is one I liked, I put it behind Up In Smoke, Still Smoking, and Cheech And Chong's Next Movie, which were great...and AHEAD of others such as to give one example - The Corsican Brothers, which seems to follow a different format or something and I didnt particularily like. The humor was good, I just was turned off by the silly parts relating to the [this is a possible spoiler] lizard transformation from the smoking of the weed, it was silly. The detective had goofy over acting too which was annoying. Cheech and Chong were top notch though however so I give this 4 of 5 stars!
June 1, 2019
Great 2 pack sack of fat laughs and craps, classic comedy at its finest. Arrived swiftly and in brandy new condish. Price as low as the day is long, grab your bong and watch cheech and chong.
March 30, 2018
Nice Dreams is a fun to watch flick. Goofy, but entertaining, not just crappy rhetoric.
Things are tough all over is pretty funny. Especially, the secondary characters that Cheech and Chong play. Both are worth purchasing.
Things are tough all over is pretty funny. Especially, the secondary characters that Cheech and Chong play. Both are worth purchasing.
July 12, 2018
Definitely better than the last one, "Next Movie", but nothing stands up to Up in Smoke, sadly. Again, a bunch of funny sight gags my generation was laughing at for years to come, but sadly, 30 yrs later, they're pretty worn out. Ah well...
December 4, 2018
Great old movies brought back good memories they never get old
August 21, 2019
I loved this movie since I was a teenager. It’s classic
May 13, 2013
As a lover of the double duo cheech and chong this is one of the weirdest ones in all their movies! In this one you have a cop that turns into a lizard, nuns that get arrested and pee wee herman as a crazed lunatic! You'll laugh and enjoy watching yet another cheech and chong comedic slam of more marijuana induced fun! Not a movie for kids thats just my opinion but due to the marijuana drug content thats the only reason i say that. Other than that Nice Dreams........
There are 133 customer reviews and 139 customer ratings.
