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.
