MVFF47 - RSVP Guide

The kings of stoner comedy drive through the desert, remembering the good times and rehashing decades-old arguments, searching for a place called “The Joint.” One is a Canadian Chinese musician who recorded songs for Motown. The other is a Mexican American from LA who moved to Vancouver, BC, to avoid the draft and make pottery. Fate—and an improv group based in a topless bar—brought Tommy Chong and Richard “Cheech” Marin together to become the “hard-rock comedy” team Cheech & Chong. Framed within that contemporary road trip interspersed with plenty of archival material, David Bushell’s profile of the most successful stand-up duo of the 1970s and ’80s charts their rise from hippie-club headliners to countercultural icons with chart-topping albums to movie stars, before the combo of ego, fame, and an imbalance of power made their career temporarily go up in smoke. You couldn’t ask for a funnier, more moving documentary on the guys who invented, like, pot humor, man! —David Fear

Los reyes de la comedia de fumetas recorren el desierto, recordando los buenos tiempos y repitiendo discusiones de hace décadas, mientras buscan un lugar llamado "The Joint". Uno es un músico chino-canadiense que grabó canciones para Motown; el otro es un mexico-americano de Los Ángeles que se mudó a Vancouver, BC, para evitar el reclutamiento y dedicarse a la cerámica. El destino (y un grupo de improvisación con sede en un bar de topless) unió a Tommy Chong y Richard “Cheech” Marin, convirtiéndolos en el equipo de comedia de “hard rock” Cheech & Chong. Enmarcado en ese viaje por carretera e intercalado con abundante material de archivo, el retrato que David Bushell presenta del dúo de comediantes de stand-up más exitoso de los años 1970 y 1980 traza su ascenso desde estrellas de clubes hippies hasta íconos contraculturales con álbumes en las listas de éxitos y películas exitosas, antes de que la combinación de ego, fama y desbalance de poder hiciera que su carrera se esfumara temporalmente. ¡No podrías pedir un documental más divertido y conmovedor sobre los tipos que inventaron el humor de marihuana, hombre! —David Fear
 
Premiere status: West Coast 
Initiative: Vive El Cine
 
Director: David Bushell made his directorial feature film debut with the SXSW 2024 World Premiere of Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie. He previously directed one of Vimeo’s favorite films of the decade, the short Jim Carrey: I Needed Color (2017). Bushell’s producing credits include Billy Bob Thornton’s Academy-award winning film Sling Blade (1996), and Get Him to the Greek (2010), which he produced alongside Judd Apatow. He is an executive producer on Academy Award®-winning films Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind (2004) and Dallas Buyers Club (2013). Bushell was named one of Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch.” He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Expected In Person Guest