A/k/a Tommy Chong
Blue Chief Entertainment | Release Date: June 14, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Chong does his time (nine months) and has the last laugh, emerging as a born-again activist-survivor of the culture wars. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Tells the depressing, often ridiculous and generally enraging story of how and why Mr. Chong, an extremely laid-back and genial camera presence, ended up doing time in the minimum-security Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, Calif. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
This is a small film, but it moved me and made me angry. Both reactions, in this context, are worthwhile. Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
How the feds inadvertently resurrected the performing career of stoner comic Tommy Chong by busting him is the ironic subtext of Josh Gilbert's one-sided documentary a/k/a Tommy Chong. Read full review
63
PremiereEthan Alter
Gilbert films Chong as if he's a political prisoner like Nelson Mandela, when he's really just an older comic going to jail over a bad business decision. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Gilbert blatantly takes Chong's side, so your level of empathy will rise or fall depending on how strongly you connect with his subject's hazy, if enthusiastic, dedication to "the pursuit of righteous happiness." Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
This isn't a great piece of nonfiction filmmaking, but it has its moments. Read full review
60
Film ThreatK.J. Doughton
Leave the Visine and wrapping papers at home for A/K/A Tommy Chong, a surprisingly clear-eyed, sober account of what it’s liked to be embraced by a culture, while loathed by the Powers That Be. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Perhaps it was inevitable that a movie about the ultimate stoner would be undone by fuzzy execution and lack of ambition. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
First-time filmmaker Josh Gilbert, whose skills behind the camera are rudimentary, might be a bit too close to his subject to do disinterested viewers justice; he clearly is a fan and is making no effort to show both sides of the story he reports. Read full review
50
VarietyRobert Koehler
While the picture's reporting on government repression of alternative cultural ideas and lifestyles is noteworthy more than anything, it's a blatant promo for Chong's career. Read full review
50
Village VoiceRob Nelson
Following Chong to the clink by way of a few well-timed stand-up gigs, this genial doc sprinkles Reagan and Nixon soundbites over its vintage stash of C&C clips for a suitably fuzzy squint at America from '69 to the buzzkill present. Read full review
More From This Movie

60 Critic Reviews

8.0 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL