Review courtesy of Dom Duncombe

The stoner comedy, popular in the 70s and 80s has been having somewhat of a resurgence over the last few years with the Harold and Kumar movies and the Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen films being prime examples, a/k/a Tommy Chong is a comedic documentary that follows a couple of years in the life of the eponymous Chong who almost single-handedly (along with Cheech Marin) created the sub-genre with the film ‘Up in Smoke’ as he is busted, charged and imprisoned.

The film starts out explaining how Chong got arrested, not for possession of narcotics as you would expect but instead for selling bongs (or water pipes as they are referred to throughout) through his family business to a DEA agent posing as a customer located in Pennsylvania, where supplying drug paraphernalia is apparently a crime. The film then inter-cuts interviews with various celebrities and law enforcement officers giving their views on Chong’s incarceration with clips of him preparing to be locked up and performing stand-up. Finally, we catch up with Chong after his nine month imprisonment to see how he feels now about his sentence.

Over the course of its 80 minute running time, the film swings from hilarity to tragedy to downright shock as it slowly becomes clear to you how broken the justice system is in the USA. Tommy is essentially given the option to either take a plea bargain and go to jail for nine months or go to court where his wife and son will also be put on the chopping block, it is also made pretty clear by the prosecution that he is being treated so harshly because he played a stoner in a couple of films thirty years ago, and is being made a martyr. Not to mention that the method in which he was caught was tantamount to entrapment. It makes you wonder what could be used against you should the government arbitrarily make you their next target.

Whether you agree with his views on illegal drugs or not, it’s hard to deny that Chong should not have been put away for his crimes and as such I think this film is worth watching if you’re feeling disenfranchised with the government.