When Dude, Where’s My Car? hit screens in December 2000, I thought it looked inane and would be nothing more than another stupid teen comedy. While some offerings in that genre can be entertaining - such as 1999’s American Pie - most are just as idiotic as one might expect.

I saw little reason to believe differently in the case of Dude, and the film’s reviews did nothing to change my opinion. With a gross of $46 million, the movie didn’t exactly tear up the box office, but with a budget of only $13 million, that figured represented a nice profit. In any case, though the studio clearly made money on Dude, the film didn’t attract a very substantial audience and it quickly faded from view.

So I still haven’t been able to figure out why I chose to review this flick. Nonetheless, select it I did, and I must admit that I found Dude to offer a mildly pleasant surprise. I expected the worst, and while the film wasn’t anything special, it seemed genial and watchable for the most part.

Dude follows the exploits of young stoners Jesse (Ashton Kutcher) and Chester (Seann William Scott) as they attempt to locate the titular missing vehicle. They quickly figure out that they got tremendously wasted during the prior night, and apparently they had the times of their lives - too bad they can’t remember any of this.

As the film proceeds, Jesse and Chester slowly piece together the puzzles and figure out what happened during this night to end all nights. Their attempts are complicated by a cast of wacky characters, many of whom pester the buds to get possession of a mystical alien device. Somehow the boys got a hold of it, and its location may affect the future of the universe.

It’s a thin plot that exists only to put our protagonists in an ever-expanding series of wacky situations, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Actually, I think the story may have been a minor homage to that of 1984’s cult classic Repo Man, another film that mixed nutty comedy with a sci-fi subplot.

Repo maintained an uneasy balance between the two sides, and the same problem affects Dude. The movie tries so hard to promote the thriller aspects of the tale that the more normal comedic side occasionally takes a back seat.

Frankly, the movie starts to get tiresome at around the halfway point. Since it only runs for 83 minutes, that’s far too soon for the material to become tedious.

Not that the first half of the flick offers many comedic gems. Actually, Dude’s greatest weakness is also its biggest strength: it’s a stupid movie, and folks who hate that kind of work will likely loathe it as well.

However, I think it seems charmingly dumb. The film pursues its inane course with such an earnest and good-natured tone that it becomes increasingly difficult to dislike it.

Much of the credit goes to our leads. Kutcher provides a genial and fairly likable presence. He makes Jesse fun but not sleazy, and he comes across as a moronic but pleasant guy.

Dude finally allowed Scott to play someone other than American Pie’s Stifler, as Chester’s much more kind-hearted and naïve. Scott’s not a comedic revelation as Chester, but he provides a cute innocence and simple tone to the character that allow him to be likable.

It’s really the sincere attitudes displayed by our two protagonists that make Dude watchable. The characters aren’t played as jerks, and though they smoke pot and dig strippers, they seem to actually be nice guys.

They’re just moronic and frivolous. Ultimately, their lack of sophistication allows us to like them, and even though they’re clearly idiots, we don’t look down on them in many ways.

Dude works best when it holds close to situational comedic scenes. That’s why I didn’t care for the sci-fi plot, as the movie’s most enjoyable moments revolve around segments that take everyday events and make them silly.

Easily the film’s funniest bit takes place at a drive-through Chinese restaurant. I won’t discuss the gags, as I don’t want to ruin the fun, and they wouldn’t sound interesting in print anyway. Nonetheless, this piece delivers a nice segment that proves to be surprisingly entertaining.

Most of Dude, Where’s My Car? remains very hit or miss, and it mainly misses. The movie seems padded, even though it only lasts 83 minutes.

Despite a variety of flaws, I still think it provides a generally watchable experience. The movie lacks a slew of funny bits, but the earnest charm of its co-stars means that it stays mildly interesting throughout the film, and at times it becomes fairly entertaining. I generally liked the time I spent with Dude.

Dude, Where’s My Car? appears in an aspect ratio of :1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a dated and mediocre presentation.

Sharpness varied. At best, the image could seem reasonably accurate, but plenty of mildly soft spots emerged, and the picture could appear a bit blocky.

Minor instances of jagged edges and shimmering occurred, and I noticed slight edge haloes. Print flaws didn’t become an issue, but the image felt a bit “digital”.

Despite a pretty broad palette, colors tended to appear somewhat flat and messy. At times the hues popped to life, but most of the colors were fairly iffy.

Blacks were reasonably deep, while shadows showed adequate clarity. This wasn’t a terrible presentation but it remained bland and mediocre.

Although most of the film's DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack worked well, it contained some problems that made it often seem less than satisfactory. Most comedies feature limited soundfields, and that was also the case for Dude.

The audio largely concentrated in the forward channels, where I heard fairly broad and well-placed sound. These speakers added a nice general ambience, and some convincing panning and movement occurred across them.

Music offered solid stereo imaging and popped up effectively from all five channels. There wasn’t a tremendous amount of unique audio to be heard in from the surrounds, but I thought they contributed decent reinforcement of the music and effects.

Overall, the soundfield matched the material. It provided modest breadth to the track but it didn’t show a great deal of activity.

Most of the audio sounded good, with only one exception: speech. Through parts of the movie, dialogue seemed a bit edgy and brittle. These didn’t occur frequently, though, so most of the lines became reasonably concise.

Music was nicely bright and rich, and the tunes displayed solid dynamic range. Effects were also clear and accurate, and they offered few signs of distortion. Ultimately, much of Dude sounded good, but the inconsistent speech and the lackluster soundscape caused me to lower my audio rating to a “B-“.

How does the Blu-ray compare to the original DVD? Audio was a bit cleaner and more dynamic, while visuals became a bit tighter and more vivid.

Don’t expect substantial improvements in terms of picture quality, though, as the Blu-ray failed to provide an impressive presentation. I suspect it reused the transfer from the old DVD, and it could use a remaster.

The disc includes trailers for Dude, Alien Vs. Predator, Dodgeball and X-Men: The Last Stand. We find no other extras here, which means we lose the DVD’s commentary, extended scenes and other bonus materials.

I didn’t mind the time I spent with Dude, Where’s My Car?. No, it doesn’t bring a tremendously fun experience, but the movie feels watchable and amiable enough. The Blu-ray comes with mushy visuals, adequate audio and negligible bonus materials. This becomes an iffy release for a mildly entertaining movie.