Nice Dreams

Nice Dreams follows the comedy duo Cheech and Chong as they run an ice cream business that serves as a front for selling marijuana. The scheme brings in enough money for the pair to chase their personal wishes, including new guitars and a life of leisure. Their plans go wrong on several fronts: during a night out at a Chinese restaurant, Cheech runs into Donna, a woman from his past, and goes home with her, only to learn that her boyfriend, an ex-convict known as Animal, is on his way. At the same time, Chong has traded their earnings for a bank check that turns out to be worthless, and recovering the money means getting into a nearby mental institution. Sergeant Stedenko, the policeman pursuing them, develops his own troubles after sampling confiscated drugs.

Tommy Chong directed the film, the second of the three features he made in a row with Cheech Marin, after Cheech & Chong's Next Movie and before Still Smokin. Chong and Marin wrote the screenplay, and Howard Brown produced. Alongside the two leads, the cast includes Stacy Keach as Stedenko, Evelyn Guerrero as Donna, Timothy Leary as himself, and Paul Reubens as Howie Hamburger Dude, within a credited cast of 57 and crew of 67. Released in July 1981, the film took about 37 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.1/10 from 8,600 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 5.8/10 from 134 votes; a critics' rating of 3.7/10 from six reviews is lower than both audience scores.