---
title: "Nice Dreams"
year: 1981
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/nice-dreams"
fi1m_id: "nice-dreams"
imdb_id: "tt0082163"
tmdb_id: 20075
wikidata_id: "Q7024671"
fi1m_score: 50
critics_reviews: 3
published: "2026-10-04T17:37:17.807683+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-04T17:37:18.361175+00:00"
region: "BE"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Nice Dreams (1981)

Directed by Tommy Chong · 1h 28m · Comedy

## Identity

Nice Dreams

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/nice-dreams
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** nice-dreams
- **IMDb ID:** tt0082163
- **TMDB ID:** 20075
- **Wikidata ID:** Q7024671
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082163/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/20075, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7024671

**Fi1m score: 50** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far

*In a sentence:* Eighty-eight minutes in which the policeman is more stoned than the dealers, and funnier for it

> The third Cheech and Chong film has an ice cream van, a great deal of cash and Stacy Keach falling apart in a surveillance vehicle, which is nearly enough. It does not have a story, and after an hour the absence shows.

## Synopsis

Cheech (Cheech Marin) and Chong (Tommy Chong) drive an ice cream van around the beaches of Los Angeles, selling marijuana from a potent batch Chong has grown himself, and the money is coming in faster than they can spend it. Sergeant Stedenko (Stacy Keach), the narcotics officer who has been after them since the first film, is parked nearby with a surveillance team, sampling the evidence and finding it stronger than he expected. Cheech has his mind on Donna (Evelyn Guerrero), who has moved on and would rather he did too. Boxes of cash, a van that plays a jingle, a policeman losing his grip, and a fast-talking stranger called Howie Hamburger Dude (Paul Reubens) waiting to make the money a problem.

## Review

Tommy Chong directs the third Cheech and Chong film from a script he wrote with Cheech Marin, and the setup is the best idea in it: two dealers selling marijuana from an ice cream van, and making so much money they have to think about what money is for. *Nice Dreams* runs 88 minutes and spends them wandering, which is in character. It is funny in patches, slack for long stretches, and plainly made by people who assumed the audience would arrive in the right frame of mind. If you are that audience, it will do. If you are not, nothing in it will change your mind.

Stacy Keach is the reason to stay. His Sergeant Stedenko, back from [*Up in Smoke*](https://film.one/film/up-in-smoke) (1978), sits in a vehicle watching the van and smoking the confiscated product, and Keach plays each stage of his decline with a straight face and perfect timing, as if filing a report. We laughed properly at him, more than once, and then felt a little ashamed, because it is the same joke repeated and we laughed every time. That is the honest measure of the film. It has perhaps four jokes and it knows how to tell them.

Marin does the work in the double act. He talks, moves, pursues Evelyn Guerrero’s Donna with the confidence of a man who has not noticed she is not interested, and keeps scenes alive by refusing to let them settle. Chong, directing himself, plays slow and reacts late, which is the point of the character but a problem for the director, because he gives every scene the rhythm of his own performance. Tony Lombardo and Thomas K. Avildsen hold shots well past the laugh and cut away only when someone leaves the frame. A sharper edit would have lost ten minutes and nobody would have missed them.

Charles Correll shoots it in flat Californian daylight, beach and car park and hotel corridor, so that the whole thing has the look of someone’s holiday photographs, which suits the material better than anything prettier would have. James William Newport’s van, painted up and lettered and playing its tune, is the one piece of design with any wit in it, and the film keeps going back to it like a comedian returning to a prop. Harry Betts’s score sits under the scenes doing little harm and less work. Paul Reubens turns up as Howie Hamburger Dude, twitchy and talking at double speed, and for his few minutes the film has an energy it cannot keep. Guerrero is given a dress and a set of reactions and not much else.

The second half takes a turn we will not describe. Before it gets there, the film sags. Somewhere around the hour mark we realised we were waiting for the van to come back, and that we had stopped caring whether the money was safe, and the film had not noticed. It was not anger, exactly. It was the feeling of being at a party that has gone on past the point anyone had something to say.

*Up in Smoke* had a destination: a van, a border, a contest at the end. This has none, and the difference is the whole difference. Sketch comedians can carry a feature when the sketches are strung on something, and here they are strung on the fact that the two men are still high. That is the premise, not the plot, and by the finish Marin and Chong seem to know it, because the last stretch leans on cameos to get across the line.

See it with the people who already like Cheech and Chong, late, with the lights low, and it will seem better than it is. Keach would survive in any company. The rest of it is agreeable, sunlit and content to be nothing more, and at 88 minutes it has the decency to leave before you do.

*Fi1m score 50, published 4 October 2026.*

## Straight answers

**Is Nice Dreams worth watching?**

*Nice Dreams* is worth watching only if you already like Cheech and Chong, and we scored it 50. Stacy Keach, smoking the evidence in a surveillance vehicle, is funny every time, and the ice cream van is a good idea; the film has no story to hang them on, and after an hour the slackness shows. It runs 88 minutes and does not outstay them.

**How long is Nice Dreams, and what is it rated?**

*Nice Dreams* runs 1h 28m. It is a comedy film.

**Where can I watch Nice Dreams in Belgium?**

*Nice Dreams* is not on any streaming or rental service in Belgium at the moment. It is available in 5 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is Nice Dreams, and is it suitable for children?**

*Nice Dreams* is not violent or frightening, but it is an adult comedy about dealing marijuana, rated R in the United States and without a UK certificate. The humour is built on drug use, with two dealers and a narcotics officer all stoned for most of the running time, so it is not for children and we would not put it in front of younger teenagers.

**How does Nice Dreams compare to Up in Smoke?**

*Nice Dreams* is the looser and weaker of the two, and [*Up in Smoke*](https://film.one/film/up-in-smoke) is the one to see first. The earlier film gives Cheech and Chong a destination, a van, a border and a contest, so its sketches are strung on something; the third film strings them on the fact that the two men are still high. Both have Stacy Keach's Sergeant Stedenko, and he is the best thing in each.

**What should I watch after Nice Dreams?**

After *Nice Dreams*, try [*Up in Smoke*](https://film.one/film/up-in-smoke) (1978, Fi1m 56): The first one, with a destination, a border and the same policeman at his best. Then [*Withnail and I*](https://film.one/film/withnail-and-i) (1987, Fi1m 88): Two men, no money, chemical assistance; the British version has better lines and worse weather; and [*Dazed and Confused*](https://film.one/film/dazed-and-confused) (1993, Fi1m 86): One Texan evening of drifting teenagers, shot with real affection and no plot to speak of.

### Reviews we read (3)

- **Time Out** (64/100, inferred): The available page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. Its description focuses on Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong trying to profit from a potent batch of marijuana. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/nice-dreams)
- **Radio Times**, John Ferguson (2/5): Ferguson finds the third instalment unlikely to win over anyone who disliked the earlier films. He singles out its sloppy mix of drug talk and slapstick, while noting several returning and cameo performers. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-kj5bpy/cheech-and-chongs-nice-dreams/)
- **Eye for Film**, Keith Dudhnath (65/100, inferred): Dudhnath finds the film a flawed but entertaining guilty pleasure. He singles out its comedy and supporting performances for praise, while criticizing the loose plot and Tim Rossovich’s performance. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/cheech-and-chongs-nice-dreams-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath)

## Details

- **Director:** Tommy Chong
- **Director:** Tommy Chong
- **Writer:** Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong
- **Cinematography:** Charles Correll
- **Editor:** Tony Lombardo, Thomas K. Avildsen
- **Music:** Harry Betts
- **Production design:** James William Newport
- **Producer:** Howard Brown
- **Cast:** Cheech Marin as Cheech; Tommy Chong as Chong; Stacy Keach as Sergeant Stedenko; Timothy Leary as Self; Evelyn Guerrero as Donna; Paul Reubens as Howie Hamburger Dude; Suzanne Kent as Sidney the Agent; Jeff Pomerantz as CHP #2
- **Runtime:** 1h 28m
- **First release (Sweden):** 24 July 1981
- **Genres:** Comedy
- **Box office:** $37 million

## Where to watch in Belgium

Not streaming, renting or buying in Belgium at the last check.

Also available in: DE, GB, IN, NL, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Up in Smoke* (1978), Fi1m 56: The first one, with a destination, a border and the same policeman at his best — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/up-in-smoke.md)
- *Withnail and I* (1987), Fi1m 88: Two men, no money, chemical assistance; the British version has better lines and worse weather — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/withnail-and-i.md)
- *Dazed and Confused* (1993), Fi1m 86: One Texan evening of drifting teenagers, shot with real affection and no plot to speak of — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/dazed-and-confused.md)
- *Smiley Face* (2007): Anna Faris spends a day far too stoned to run her errands; precise, short and funny
- *The Big Lebowski* (1998), Fi1m 85: A stoner wanders into a plot and treats it as an inconvenience; the Coens keep up — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-big-lebowski.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/nice-dreams