Far Out Man

I had zero expectations going into this film but, OK maybe I thought it was really going to stink.

It didn't.

Sure, it doesn't have the subversive, cool, heady tripping of a Cheech & Chong flick and Tommy's casting his talentless wife in a lead role was way wrong, but there are still enough cool clips to keep your attention.

One of the things that's sort of distracting about this film production is the excessive number of scenes that appear to be obviously overdubbed. Must have been a one take fix it later wonder film!

I had heard bad things about this Chong solo effort. But surprisingly its quite entertaining. I wasn't expecting much after the later Cheech and Chong films such as Still Smoking but this is much better.

Essenstially its just Cheech and Chong without Cheech, although he does have a brief cameo in this. Also there is not much in the way of drug use either. Chongs character even at one point advising another not to use cocaine. Some cast members acting abilities are questionable and a lot of the jokes fall flat. But it is a lot of fun.

Just don't expect another Up In Smoke! That way you should enjoy this more than say, Still Smoking.

Watch it next time its on TV...

I was looking on netflix and ran into this movie "Far Out Man." This movie stars Tommy Chong who plays a hippie searching for his family. He meets up with son and together they go off to see America. In Far Out Man Tommy Chong plays a character that's totally oblivious to what is happening or what is going on. Basically this ends up being a lot like a Cheech and Chong movie. This movie has many of the crazy antics found in the Cheech and Chong movies.

There is some stuff that is really weird and some stuff you might not find funny. They had a rock band in this movie named "Fartz." I guess some people would think that is funny. Martin Mull plays a Dr with the name Liddledick that sounds a lot like "Little Dick."

I don't know why this movie has a rating of 4.4. There's parts of this movie that are really funny. I wasn't expecting this to be a good movie. This movie is a lot like "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane." This is one big adventure. There is some crude humor in this movie including some sex related stuff. There is some stuff that doesn't make sense. There isn't much of a plot in this movie. It's pretty straightforward.

Far Out Man (1990)

** (out of 4)

Tommy Chong wrote, directed and stars in this film as an aging hippie who goes on a road trip to try and get all of his family back together. If you're going into FAR OUT MAN expecting some sort of story then you're going to be disappointed because what we've got here is basically Chong getting some family and some famous friends together for a bunch of scenes involving him doing weird or dumb things. At the start of the film we see him fixing breakfast, dropping stuff on the floor and picking it back up to cook. This here, as well as the pot humor, is pretty much the type of laughs Chong goes for and for the most part it's a complete dud. With that said, as bad and as strange as this movie is, there's just something intriguing about it that makes it worth viewing if you're a fan of Chong. The film certainly has an "I don't care what you think" type of attitude for it. I mean, I doubt Chong was trying to win an Oscar for this thing and it's clear that he's just kicking back and having fun. The supporting cast includes a wide variety of famous faces including Martin Mull, Rae Dawn Chong, C. Thomas Howell, Reynaldo Rey, Judd Nelson, Michael Winslow and a cameo that I won't ruin. For the most part, with the exception of Martin, no one is taking their parts all that serious and it seems everyone is just helping Chong as a favor. FAR OUT MAN often fails when it comes to laughs but I think it still remains entertaining due in large part to Chong and his fun nature.

"Tommy Chong's "Far Out Man" may not be one of his best but its still worth the watch. There some laughs to be had in this movie. Many of those laughs are delivered by Reynaldo Rey. Rey gives a very funny performance in this movie. The rest of the cast is also likeable, including the always dreamy Rae Dawn Chong. Sure there are quite a few clunkers in this movie but with a very friendly running time of 81 minutes, who wants to nitpick. "Far Out Man" is worth the watch, especially for fans of Tommy Chong (like me). (Just for the record I just bought a pipe from Cheech & Chong glass. I guess Chong figured out a way to sell that kind of stuff without going to prison this time.)