When it comes to movies, there are different kinds of comfort food cinema: sometimes, you want to kick back and watch an old favorite for the zillionth time to help you relax. Other times, though, it’s fun to go back and discover something that was a big hit back in the day but that you haven’t seen in years. That’s how I returned to the year 2000 by watching Dude, Where’s My Car?, a stoner comedy that you can now stream on Hulu.
The paper-thin plot of Dude, Where’s My Car? is that two best buds wake up with nasty hangovers and almost no idea what they got up to the previous night. That becomes a problem when they discover one of their cars is missing, and it contained anniversary gifts for their girlfriends. On a quest to get the car back and maybe just get their groove on, these two meatheads must retrace their steps on a Quixotic quest that would put Harold and Kumar to shame.
Sean William Scott and Ashton Kutcher in Dude, Where’s My Car?
Dude, Where’s My Car? released in the year 2000, but it has all the weirdly nostalgic vibes of a late-90s movie, starting with the cast. Half of our sudden lead actors is played by Ashton Kutcher at the absolute height of his That ‘70s Show fame, where he played a similarly dimwitted character. The other half is played by Sean William Scott, who seemed like he was going to be the next big thing after stealing the show in American Pie as the aggressive horndog, Stifler.
The supporting cast also includes some nostalgic surprises, including who plays the characters’ girlfriends. One is played by Kristy Swanson, who rose to pop culture by being the first woman to portray iconic monster Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The other is played by Jennifer Garner, who was making a name for herself through appearances on shows like Felicity before she began starring in the hit 2001 show Alias.
Of course, it’s a tad surreal to return to Dude, Where’s My Car? a full quarter century after it came out. While he has had some solid movies since then, Sean William Scott never really did become the major leading man this film was setting him up to be. And this movie’s particular brand of juvenile stoner humor has long since faded from prominence, replaced by more character-driven humor in stoner movies such as Pineapple Express.
The weirdest thing about rewatching this film, though, is seeing Ashton Kutcher as one of the lead characters. It didn’t seem strange at the time, but Kutcher and his now wife (and former That ‘70s Show colleague) Mila Kunis have since been disgraced after their vocal support for costar Danny Masterson. After Masterson was convicted of rape, Kutcher and Munis wrote to the judge asking for leniency on sentencing for their old friend, which led to severe backlash because he’d already been convicted of an awful crime.
Ashton Kutcher in Dude, Where’s My Car?
To be clear, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment of rewatching Dude, Where’s My Car? because I dug its nostalgic vibes and was in the right mood for its lowbrow humor. That humor also won over audiences back in the day, helping the movie earn $73.2 million against a budget of only $13 million. That financial success belies the movie’s admittedly awful Rotten Tomatoes score of 16 percent.
The movie is now considered a cult classic, but will you enjoy the bro-tastic humor of Dude, Where’s My Car?, or is this one stoner comedy you’d rather you never found? You won’t know until you stream it on Hulu. If nothing else, this cinematic vehicle is a great way to cruise into the past and remember the good old days, back when our biggest concern was surviving the Y2K bug and living long enough to see the next Star Wars prequel.
A scene from Dude, Where’s My Car?
Spoilers, 2000-era you: it’s all downhill from here!
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