Dude, Where’s My Car?

PLOT:

Jesse (Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Seann William Scott) awaken with hangovers and no memory of how they got there. The television is on, showing a Animal Planet program about how animals use twigs and rocks as tools to get food. Their house is filled with containers of pudding, and the answering machine contains an angry message from their twin girlfriends Wilma (Marla Sokoloff) and Wanda (Jennifer Garner) as to their whereabouts. They emerge from their home to find Jesse’s car missing, and with it their girlfriends’ one-year anniversary presents. This prompts Jesse to ask the film’s titular question: “Dude, where’s my car?”

It’s crucial that they find the car and the presents, because the girls have promised them a “special treat”, and they’re sure it means sex. The duo begins retracing their steps in an attempt to discover just where they left the car. Along the way, they encounter a transgender stripper, a belligerent Chinese food drive-in restaurant speaker box operator (Freda Foh Shen) who keeps asking “AND THEN?”, two appropriately worded tattoos on each other’s backs, UFO cultists, a Cantonese-speaking Chinese tailor (Keone Young), a couple of hard-nosed police detectives, and a reclusive ostrich farmer (Brent Spiner). The story continues as a buddy film, but takes on a few elements of science fiction when the protagonists meet two groups of aliens searching for the “Continuum Transfunctioner”; a very powerful and mysterious device — its mystery is only exceeded by its power (in other words, it’s a device capable of destroying the universe).

Adding “save all of existence” to their list of tasks, Jesse and Chester trek onward. In an arcade, they discover that the Continuum Transfunctioner was a Rubik’s Cube that Chester has been working hard to solve, and eventually does (thus activating it). Once the five lights had stopped flashing, the universe would be destroyed.

Jesse and Chester must determine which of two sets of aliens, a duo of Schwarzenegger-like men (with Norwegian accents) and a group of self-described “hot alien chicks” is entitled to the device. One of the groups protects the universe, the other is there to destroy it. Both claim to be the protectors of the universe, state that they were with Jesse and Chester last night (which Jesse and Chester still cannot remember) and ask for the Transfunctioner. The two correctly choose the men, because when the men were asked what the two stoners did the night before, they correctly respond that the stoners got a hole in one at the 18th hole at a miniature golf park, and won a life time supply of pudding. At the last second, they deactivate the Transfunctioner, saving the universe.

Balked, the five alien women merge together to become a giantess (Jodi Ann Paterson) who swallows Tommy alive. The giantess then crawls out of the amusement centre and chases Jesse and Chester, almost stepping on a table at which a young boy is having a birthday party. The cultists tell them to activate the Photon Accelerator Annihilation Beam on the Transfunctioner. However, the button that activates it is too far in to reach. At the last second, Chester remembers the nature show with the tool-using chimps and uses a straw to push the recessed button, thus destroying the alien. The protectors erase everyone’s minds concerning the events and time is reversed to the beginning of the film. This is not why Jesse and Chester could not remember the previous night. The true reason they could not is, as one of the protectors put it: “man you guys were wasted last night.” The duo recover their car, salvage their relationships and discover just where all the pudding came from. The special treat from the girls turns out to be matching knitted caps and scarves. The protectors leave a little gift for their girlfriends (and, indirectly, for the two young men): Breast Enhancement Necklaces.

REVIEW:

Let’s be honest, if you watching a movie called Dude, Where’s My Car? you’re not exactly expecting some Academy Award Winning masterpiece. If you are, then you need to either severely lower your standards or get you head examined!

Remember those good old buddy films from the heyday of Hollywood? This films hearkens back to them a little bit, but with the added element of today’s stoner flicks. Surprisingly, the mixture delivers a knockout punch.

Ashton Kutcher was busy becoming a star on That 70s Show when this film was released. It can be safely said that this, albeit below much of his work following it, was the start of his movie career. Kutcher seems a little comfortable as a stoner, but it works for this film. His chemistry with Sean William Scott is extraordinary.

Speaking of Scott, he has made a career out of being the jerk in almost every film he’s in, however, here he is the total opposite. Chester is the lovable, dumber half of the duo.  Yes, it is weird to say lovable in the same sentence as Sean William Scott, but it just shows that he does have some range to his acting.

The multitude of characters Jessie and Chester run into throughout the film are quite interesting. This film does have a central plot point, though, and that’s the Continuum Transfunctioner. A device that brings everyone together in the films climax and allows the “hot alien chicks” to morph into a “super hot giant alien” played by Playmate Jodi Ann Paterson. Nothing wrong with that.

So, this film comes down to this, if you’re one of those that doesn’t care for stoner comedies, then obviously, you’re not going to like this. If you love them, then you’ll love this film. There’s also a bit a of sci-fi that provided an interesting twist to the film and is quite enjoyable. I loved it, but as I always say, though, you have to watch for yourself to make a true decision.

5 out of 5 stars