Dude, Where's My Car

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Despite a façade of low ambition, teen grossout/slacker comedy is a genre that thrives on constantly outdoing itself. Gags must escalate. Just look at the way There's Something About Mary's horrifyingly memorable rudeness reemerged with amplified innuendo in Scary Movie. In light of this alarming build-up, Dude, Where's My Car is a serious anomaly. It's a poorly constructed dude comedy with neither clever writing nor a barrage of unmentionable moments to set audiences and critics talking.

Even though the plot involves bimbo extraterrestrials, a transsexual stripper, and a stoned dog, Dude, Where's My Car is modest in comparison to the movies it so obviously wants to be compared with.

Jessie (Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Sean William Scott) wake up after a particularly hearty night of partying to find their cupboards stocked with pudding and their twin girlfriends' house trashed. Their car is missing, and rival alien crews believe the boys can locate a device which determines the universe's fate. The only balanced element in this massively lopsided film is that the half-baked plot is backed by half-baked acting and production techniques.