Dude, Wheres My Car

Plot

Jesse and Chester awaken with hangovers and no memory of how they got there. The television is on, showing an Animal Planet program about how animals use twigs and rocks as tools to get food. Their refrigerator is filled with containers of chocolate pudding, and the answering machine contains an angry message from their twin girlfriends Wilma and Wanda as to their whereabouts. They emerge from their home to find Jesses car missing, and with it their girlfriends one-year anniversary presents. This prompts Jesse to ask the films titular question: "Dude, wheres my car?"

Because the girls have promised them a "special treat", which Jesse and Chester take to means sex, the men are desperate to retrieve their car. The duo begins retracing their steps in an attempt to discover just where they left the car. Along the way, they encounter a transgender stripper, a belligerent Chinese food drive-in restaurant speaker box operator, discover two appropriately-worded tattoos on each others backs, run into UFO cultists led by Zoltan, a Cantonese-speaking Chinese tailor, the Zen-minded Nelson and his cannabis-loving dog, the aggressive jock Tommy and his friends, a couple of hard-nosed police detectives, and a reclusive ostrich farmer. The story continues as a buddy film, but takes on a few elements of science fiction when the protagonists meet two groups of aliens, one group being six gorgeous women, the other being two Norwegian men, searching for the "Continuum Transfunctioner"; a mysterious and powerful device, whose mystery is only exceeded by its power (something that the boys are reminded of continuously throughout the film), capable of destroying the universe, that the boys accidentally picked up last night.

Adding "save all of existence" to their list of tasks, Jesse and Chester trek onward. In an arcade, they discover that the Continuum Transfunctioner was a Rubiks Cube that Chester has been working hard to solve, and eventually does (thus activating it). Once the five lights had stopped flashing, the universe would be destroyed.

Jesse and Chester must determine which of two sets of aliens is entitled to the device. One of the groups protects the universe, the other is there to destroy it. Both claim to be the protectors of the universe, state that they were with Jesse and Chester the previous night (which Jesse and Chester still cannot remember) and ask for the Transfunctioner. The two correctly choose the men, because when the men were asked what the two stoners did the night before, they correctly respond that the stoners got a hole in one at the 18th hole at a miniature golf park, and won a life time supply of pudding. At the last second, they deactivate the Transfunctioner, saving the universe.

Balked, the five alien women merge to become a giantess (Jodi Ann Paterson) who swallows Tommy alive. The giantess then crawls out of the amusement centre and chases Jesse and Chester, almost stepping on a table at which a young boy is having a birthday party. The cultists tell them to activate the Photon Accelerator Annihilation Beam on the Transfunctioner. However, the button that activates it is too far in to reach. At the last second, Chester remembers the nature show with the tool-using chimps and uses a straw to push the recessed button, thus destroying the alien. The protectors erase everyones minds concerning the events and time is reversed to the beginning of the film. The duo recover the car, a Renault Le Car, which turned out to be behind a Mail Truck the whole time, and salvage their relationships and discover the special treat from the girls turns out to be matching knitted caps and scarves. The protectors leave a gift for their girlfriends (and, indirectly, for the two young men): Breast Enhancement Necklaces.

Cast

Critical reception

Dude, Wheres My Car? received negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 18% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 55 reviews, with the consensus stating, "The movie isnt funny, the plot is too thin, and the production values feel more like a TV sitcom than a movie." The review aggregator Metacritic gave the film a score of 30, based on 17 reviews. The BBC Film review gave it 1 star, calling the film "a lame-brained travesty" and "intensely irritating" and Kutcher and Scotts routines "painfully unamusing". The Austin Chronicle concluded, "Dude, Your Movie Sucks". USA Today said: "Any civilization that can produce a movie this stupid probably deserves to be hit by famine and pestilence." The Chicago Tribune said: "At the end of 83 unmerciful minutes, audiences will be exclaiming, Dude, I cant believe I sat through that movie!?" and the New York Post said that it was: "An almost chuckle-free mess, so amateurish and lame that the cast often has that embarrassed look you see on dogs given ridiculous haircuts." However, the New York News did praise the "surprisingly sweet-natured pairing" of Kutcher and Scott.

Box office

Despite the negative reviews, the film opened at #2 at the North American box office making USD in its opening weekend behind What Women Want, which opened at the top spot. The opening of Dude just barely beat How the Grinch Stole Christmas???s fifth weekend by about

Home media

The DVD was released on June 26, 2001 with 7 deleted and extended scenes, an audio commentary with Kutcher, Scott, and Leiner, a behind-the-scenes featurette, the music video for Grand Theft Audios "Stoopid Ass", TV spots, and the theatrical trailer.

On TV in the USA, when Jesse and Chester first see Christie Boner, they say her name, but when they get to "Bon-", the words are cut and the shot moves to Christie.

Legacy

Dude, Wheres My Car? is referenced widely in many different situations. Some examples are listed below.

Author and filmmaker Michael Moore published a book titled Dude, Wheres My Country?, criticizing the United States response to 9/11 .

The title of the film is referred to In the Tenth episode ("The One Where Chandler Gets Caught") of The tenth Season of Friends .

At a 2005 Philadelphia 76ers game, then 76er Kyle Korver quoted the movie for a contest where fans guessed the movie a 76ers player was quoting. It referenced Korvers resemblance to Ashton Kutcher.

In 2012, the Pittsburgh Pirates started using the "Zoltan" hand signal from the film as a way for players to congratulate their teammates after an accomplishment such as a home run or a double play. The habit started after the Pirates (in particular Neil Walker) were watching Dude, Wheres My Car? in the visiting clubhouse at Turner Field in Atlanta during an April 2012 weekend series against the Atlanta Braves. After a Twitter campaign to encourage the "real" Zoltan to appear at a game, Hal Sparks flew to Pittsburgh on July 25, 2012 to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and was on hand to see the Pirates win 3-2 over his hometown team, the Chicago Cubs. Also there to support the team was Hals girlfriend, Summer Soltis, whose family is from the area and are Pirates fans themselves. Despite picking up a cult following in Pittsburgh and helping the team contend in the playoff race well into September, the Pirates finished with a 79-83 record, extending their major North American professional sports record to 20 consecutive losing seasons.

On April 10, 2014, in Season 11 Episode 19 of "Two and a Half Men" Walden (Ashton Kutcher) tells Vivian that he had walked four miles into the woods to find her. She picks up the car keys and clicks the horn and flashes the lights (the car is only feet away) and says, "Dude, theres your car!"

On May 1, 2014, in Season 11 Episode 21 of "Two and a Half Men", Walden (Ashton Kutcher) found his first car via a website that locates old cars called "Dude, Wheres My Car?"

Cancelled sequel

A sequel titled Seriously Dude, Wheres My Car? was in development for years, but never came to be. The first movie was a breakthrough role for Ashton Kutcher, allowing him to transition from That 70s Show to movie stardom. The sequel was scheduled to begin filming in 2003. William Scott was interested in the sequel, but Kutcher shot the idea down before filming could begin.