Far Out Man (1990)

Too much of everything

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I had zero expectations going into this film but, OK maybe I thought it was really going to stink.It didn't.Sure, it doesn't have the subversive, cool, heady tripping of a Cheech & Chong flick and Tommy's casting his talentless wife in a lead role was way wrong, but there are still enough cool clips to keep your attention.One of the things that's sort of distracting about this film production is the excessive number of scenes that appear to be obviously overdubbed. Must have been a one take fix it later wonder film!

I saw an ad for this in (popular stoner magazine) a few years back, thought "Hey, I'd like to get that!", and then promptly forgot about it. I rediscovered it while searching through Amazon.com for stoner comedies, and after seeing Tommy Chong's own review, decided I HAD to have it.Basically, I loved it. Yep, a little weak in places, but they weren't trying to make a cinematic masterpiece here. I'd put this in the same category as movies like "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" or, in a more similar time period, "The Adventures of Ford Fairlane: Rock and Roll Detective" starring Andrew Dice Clay, one of my favorite cheeseball comedies from the late eighties/early nineties.Oh, and that's one other thing - I could've SWORN this movie was made (and released) recently - the copyright on the DVD says 2001, and all the reviews and info I read led me to believe it was a recent flick. Maybe just an oversight on my part, but it was actually made in 1989. Personally, that makes it even MORE enjoyable for me, as I love finding flicks that I missed in my youth, and get to see now for the first time. Then I get to show it to all of my friends, who are then similarly amazed that THEY hadn't heard of it, either. It's definitely a fun hobby :)[** A FEW VERY MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD, FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET **] So anyway, like "Ford Fairlane", this movie is hit & miss at times, but when it hits, it hits great, with some real goofball humor that you'll be instantly quoting with your friends at the end of the movie. Also like "Ford Fairlane", this movie had a bunch of cool cameos, either playing random characters, or more typically, playing themselves. The brief Cheech spot was UTTERLY unexpected and was one of the biggest laughs of the movie. Dokken jamming out at Tommy's house was also an unexpected sight. C Thomas Howell's scene with Judd Nelson was simply AMAZING, with Howell being utterly floored that Judd Nelson had never heard of him. (Like Howell, I also thought Nelson kicked much butt in "From The Hip", another infrequently seen but highly enjoyable 80s comedy) Howell's line, "You've seen (random porn title) but never saw RED DAWN?!?" was a laugh-riot, and I totally agree. Did Judd Nelson live under a rock in the eighties, or what? RED DAWN = MUST SEE MOVIE! In conclusion, I really, REALLY liked this movie. Mad respect to Tommy Chong and family for putting this together. In the end, I guess Martin Mull's hypnotic suggestion ("You'll like this movie. Tell a friend.") made an actual impression on me. I liked this movie, and I'll be telling a LOT of friends. Check this out for sure - as long as you love goofy comedies, you'll dig it. It's far out, man. :)

If you are a big fan of the Cheech and Chong films,you might want to give Far out Man a try, but unless youre really starved for Tommy Chong and his Hippie comedy, I say to stay Far Out of this movie's way. The plot is rather thin, the humor is far-placed and unfunny, and overall I'd say that this film is quite boring. You'll get to see Chong's son and daughter, along with his wife--all of whom can't act in the slightest, and take up large portions of the movie. It's basically a home video, which he probably put together just to have a good time with the family. I'm sure it was great fun for them, but for us it's only a lame film.

If you like Chong, Soul man or C Thomas Howell then this is the movie for you. Chong is trying to make us laugh on his own, but realistically is in desperate need of Cheech for this one. I liked it, but have also met people who didn't, maybe Im being bias cause im a C&C fan. Honestly speaking, it doesn't touch classics like "the Corsican Twins" or "Up in Smoke" but something about the film seems to draw me to it. We begin with an old skool hippie (chong) who goes on a road trip in search of his long lost family. He meets up with his son (Paris Chong, Tommy's real-life son), who is pretty straight in real life, but in the movie he's totally the opposite. Together they go off to see America. A majority of Tommys real life family have roles, daughter Rae Dawn and Wife Shelby both have lines. I think in order to make a judgment you should view it first.