DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? (2000)
Director: Danny Leiner
Writer: Philip Stark
Jesse...Ashton Kutcher
Chester...Seann William Scott
Wanda...Jennifer Garner
Wilma...Marla Sokoloff
Christie Boner...Kristy Swanson
Nelson...David Herman
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 83 minutes
Rating: 1 out of 4 stars
Often times you will hear people make the argument that a movie was "so stupid that it was funny." While this concept may be true for some movies, it is much more likely that the movie was just plain stupid. Such is the case with the horrendously unfunny comedy, Dude, Where’s My Car? While the filmmakers were fully aware of the film's outrageous plot, they were unable to capitalize on the slightest potential of its absurd humor and ultimately failed to deliver anything worthwhile.
Ashton Kutcher (TV's That 70's Show) and Seann William Scott (American Pie) star as two senseless stoner buddies named Jesse and Chester. After a night of hardcore partying, Jesse and Chester wake up with no recollection of what happened the night before. After realizing that Jesse's car is missing, the two stoners go on a quest to retrace the events of the previous night and retrieve the missing car. Along the way, the guys find themselves on a crazy adventure involving a pot-smoking dog, violent ostriches, nerds in bubble-wrap jumpsuits, and teams of strange aliens in search of a mysterious device known as the "Continuum Transfunctioner."
Despite being only 83 minutes long, Dude, Where's My Car still seems to drag on for way too long. Parts of the film seem more suitable as a 2-minute SNL skit or as a scene from a TV sitcom, but even in those formats they would fail to deliver laughs. Even with a PG-13 rating, the film manages to be overly crude and distasteful. Throughout the film we encounter an array of offensive stereotypes including obnoxious Asians, manipulative "hot chicks", a perverted blind boy, power-hungry jocks, an angry transsexual stripper, dumb, donut-loving cops, twins who speak in unison, and of course two brainless potheads. Writer Philip Stark seems to have no motivation or underlying purpose for including such characters other than an attempt at scoring a handful of cheap laughs.
In what is supposed to be one of the funniest scenes of the film, the guys discover each other's back tattoos (one says "dude" while the other says "sweet") and proceed to get into an angry back-and-forth banter of confusion about what their respective tattoo says. Rather than making me laugh out loud, this scene made me honestly fear that this scene will go down as our generation's unfunny, half-baked derivative of Abbott & Costello's classic "Who's on First?" routine.
On a brighter note, Kutcher and Scott do display great on-screen chemistry throughout the film. Unfortunately, this is likely because both actors have mastered the art of playing the exact same loud-mouthed moron in virtually everything they are in. Unlike the well-executed films of this type of comedy (i.e Wayne's World or Dumb and Dumber), the two protagonists of Dude Where's My Car are neither funny nor likable. As viewers, we can't help but ask, "Why should I care about these two pathetic losers?"...or better yet, "Why did I just sit through this god-awful movie?"
Trailer:
