The fourth of the Cheech and Chong movies, this opens with our heroes driving in the desert, not using drugs and talking about rock and roll. Turns out that they're working at a car wash for the rich Mr. Slyman and Prince Habib (also Cheech and Chong),who then send the boys to Chicago on a rock and roll tour, driving the limo that we saw them in at the start of the movie. Unbeknownst to our high heroes is the fact that the car is packed with cash.

Somehow, everyone ends up lost and wandering in the desert and it all ends with Cheech and Chong as porn stars. There's also a lot of peyote.

This movie came as the mainstream began to accept Cheech and Chong, with the National Association of Theatre Owners naming them the Comedy Team of the Decade. You can see the plan was to make this film have less drug humor, with Chong saying, "Cheech & Chong and dope are redundant. It's a challenge to see if we can do it. I know we can."

As always, this movie is packed with people, like Rufus drummer Richard "Moon" Calhoun, Dave Coulier, Evelyn Guerrero (as Donna again),John Paragon, George Wallace, Ruby Wax, Rip Taylor, Lance Kinsey (Proctor from the Police Academy films) and Dorothy Neumann (Private Parts).

Unlike the past films, this was not directed by Tommy Chong. Instead, Thomas K. Avildsen , who had edited the past three films, would make this the first and only movie that we would helm.

Thing's Are Tough All Over is a funny movie. No spare parts needed to pump up the action and, in a way, works by being slightly more laid back then the past ones. It actually takes away an element without too much trouble and adds another. And it stays funny. The pot is what's taken away, for the most part, with maybe one or two tiny moments put in to reference their past films. What do they add? A road-movie attitude and two new characters by Cheech and Chong which are hilarious. Not withstanding that they're the most blatant kind of caricatures imaginable, they also have the funniest lines in the film. It's one thing to just have the look of these characters, but the duo pepper each one with clever dialog from start to finish (some of it pretty weird in its way). Some scenes here and there lag, but when the pace picks up again tenfold once they arrive in Las Vegas. With a funny cameo by Rip Taylor this film is one of Cheech and Chong's best.

The comic-doped up duo Cheech and Chong were on a bit of a high within the late 70s through to early eighties with "Things Are Tough All Over" being their fourth feature film as their infamous brand of humour (simply low-brow with sexual and drug references --- although the usage of drugs was rather minor for a Cheech and Chong outing) had a real shine on cult audiences. After this particular entry, I didn't really care/or like what came afterwards. A change was in the air (especially after the much flipped stoner comedy "Nice Dreams") and you could see it coming, as it kind of started on this ambitious effort.

Cheech and Chong are now living it up in the freezing winter of Chicago, but have trouble keeping a job. That's until their old Arabian bosses Prince Habib and Mr. Slyman re-hire them to drive a custom made limousine to Las Vegas, while unknowingly to them it contains five million dollars.

Anyhow "Things Are Tough All Over" was one of their better made and better looking productions, as it didn't entirely focus on the drug scene (usual pot smoking and drug abuse) --- but girls, music (rock 'n' roll!) and road-trip mayhem takes control. The mellow plot has a coordinated structure than being aimlessly linked together by loose set-pieces and running gags, but still its made more memorable by the perfect combination and carefree performances of Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin with their snappy wisecracks (taken from their trivial, but solidly written script) never takes a break and well timed gags in many accidental situations on their wacky journey. Visually or lyrically they were spot on… and politically incorrect with their slant. Chong and Marin also get geared in make-up to portray a couple of wealthy, but bumbling Arabs. Marin was quite entertaining as the dim-witted Mr. Slyman with uncontrollable violent tendencies . Rip Taylor shows-up in a short role and looks like his enjoying it. Also the likes of character actor John Steadman and the lovely Evelyn Guerrero joins in with the fun. Plus their wife's (Rikki Marin and Shelby Chong) were truly hard to forget in their flirtatious roles.