Weed in movies: Up in Smoke, The Big Lebowski and Pineapple Express

Weed in movies became a genre of its own with three comedies, ten and twenty years apart. Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke turned a stand-up act into a hit in 1978. The Big Lebowski gave the world the Dude in 1998. And in 2008 Pineapple Express strapped a weed comedy to an action movie. Each one uses cannabis differently: as a double act, as a personality, and as the thing that starts the chase.

The best story belongs to the first one, because it very nearly did not come out at all.

Last reviewed: November 2026.

How weed in movies went from a comedy album to a hit

By the time they made a film, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong had already released five comedy albums that sold more than ten million copies, according to the AFI Catalog. Their manager, Lou Adler, had found them in the early 1970s at the Troubadour, the Los Angeles nightclub, and he produced and directed the movie himself. Its working title was Pedro and the Man.

Shooting began on May 2, 1977, in Los Angeles, on a seven-week schedule. Then the money ran out. Paramount had put up $1 million and refused to add the $800,000 needed to finish, so Adler paid for the rest himself. The studio’s president, Michael Eisner, disliked a rough cut so much that Adler bought the film back, and Eisner only changed his mind after an audience screening went over well.

Up in Smoke: the test run that changed Paramount's mind

Paramount tested the film in Texas in September 1978. At nine theaters it took in $344,785 in ten days, and by the time of its official opening it had already earned more than $1.7 million. The wide release on September 29 grew to 500 prints over the first three weeks of October. Adler even went to the ratings appeals board to keep its R rating. By late October, Variety reported more than $20 million in ticket sales, and a sequel, Nice Dreams, was approved right away.

Not everyone laughed. The US Catholic Conference condemned the film, and the movie industry’s ratings body made Paramount drop its tagline, “Don’t go straight to see this movie,” after parents complained. The replacement was “It will make you feel very funny.” The end credits thank the staff of the Rainbow Bar and Grill and the Roxy Theatre, two Los Angeles clubs from the duo’s world.

The comedy itself is a double act. Chong’s character is billed only as The Man, though other characters call him Anthony and Alex, and the jokes live in the gap between Cheech’s bluster and Chong’s calm. It is a Los Angeles story from a Los Angeles act, which is part of why it still feels like a California film.

The Big Lebowski: a plot about a rug

Universal’s synopsis sums up the Dude in two lines: he does not want any drama in his life and cannot be bothered with a job. Then his rug is destroyed in a case of mistaken identity, and he sets out with his bowling buddies to get it replaced.

That is the whole joke. Cannabis is part of the Dude’s unhurried rhythm, but the comedy comes from a man who wants nothing being dragged through a plot that wants everything, with John Goodman, Julianne Moore and Steve Buscemi pulling him in different directions. A small grievance grows into a tangled case, and the Dude never speeds up to meet it.

Pineapple Express: when the joke becomes a chase

Thirty years after Up in Smoke, the stoner comedy picked up a car chase. In Sony’s telling, Seth Rogen plays the only witness to a murder by a drug lord, played by Gary Cole, and a corrupt cop, played by Rosie Perez. Marked for death, he runs, dragging along his dealer, played by James Franco, and his supplier, played by Danny McBride.

David Gordon Green directed from a script by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and it arrived as a Judd Apatow production, from the director of Knocked Up. The fun is in the mismatch: two men whose friendship never left the couch suddenly have to survive an action movie. The title is also a strain name, and if you are curious about the plant rather than the film, our Blue Dream and Pineapple Express strain guide covers it.

Watching them now

All three are R-rated comedies for adults, and all three are entertainment, exaggerated for laughs. If a scene sends you to a dispensary, your nearest Vibe can walk you through real labels, and the Learn hub covers the basics. Keep it at home, and never drive after using cannabis.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• AFI Catalog: Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke (1978)
• Universal Pictures: The Big Lebowski
• Sony Pictures: Pineapple Express

For adults 21+ (18+ with a physician’s recommendation in California). Keep out of reach of children and pets. Do not drive or operate machinery after use.