The world of Reddit is an interesting one, a forum that has threads that range on a number of topics: recipes, sports news, fan fiction, video games and politics. Crazy fan theories are also all over Reddit, some more realistic than others. Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000) is a comedy about two guys who can’t seem to find their car after a night of drinking. While they are backtracking their steps, they discover that along with partying too hard, they also had to fight against evil alien species. Due to this sci-fi subtext, one Reddit user believes that there is a strong link between this film and Men In Black (1997).
Reddit User Beneficial-Piano9756 makes the claim that Dude, Where's My Car?'s Chester (Seann William Scott) and Jesse (Ashton Kutcher) are actually members of the MIB. They were filling in for the agents in Men In Black, Jay (Will Smith), and Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) after they failed a mission to kill an alien, and any memories of this encounter were erased from Chester and Jesse.
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Beneficial-Piano9756's theory states that it wasn't actually Jay or Kay using the neuralyzer, a special tool that agents use to erase civilian's memories of aliens. Instead, it is the aliens who do so because they stole the neuralyzer from Jay and Kay after they failed their mission.
Men In Black is about an undercover officer (Smith), Jay, who joins Kay (Jones) in the Men In Black secret organization, where the agents encounter aliens frequently. In Dude, Where’s My Car? there are multiple groups of aliens trying to catch Chester and Jesse. After searching for their car all day, they find themselves meeting two groups of aliens: one group consists of five stunning women, the other group being two Norwegian men wearing sunglasses. Both groups of aliens claim that they are trying to save the universe, and Chester and Jesse must decide who are the good aliens and who to kill. In the end, they correctly kill the five alien women who turn into a “Super Hot Alien Giant,” as Beneficial-Piano9756 refers to her. The boys get their memories erased from the events: the connection between Men In Black and Dude, Where’s My Car? begin to intertwine.
Chester and Jesse’s whirlwind day of searching consists of many absurd encounters: talking to a speaker box operator at a Chinese restaurant's drive-through, being questioned by detectives, running into UFO cultists, meeting Christie Boner and her boyfriend Tommy, as well as a French ostrich farmer named Pierre. As mentioned earlier, they also come into contact with aliens. These aliens are searching for the "Continuum Transfunctioner": a device that must be deactivated or else the universe will be demolished. When Chester and Jesse correctly pick the unharmful aliens, they also save the universe from a deadly explosion.
The fact that both films use memory-erasing neuralyzers to keep alien contact minimal is intriguing and makes the theory more realistic. Whereas most people deal with crazy nights out with a blurry memory the following day, most at least remember some aspects. Chester and Jesse woke up with amnesia, not having any recollection whatsoever of the night. This works with the Reddit theory, as the only way someone would completely forget everything is if they had their memory erased, or they could’ve drank way too much, but that’s less fun of a theory.
Both films have comedic elements: Dude, Where's My Car? is a cult-classic comedy with a hard-to-follow yet hilarious plot, whereas Men In Black has a bit of a more action-thriller component to it. Most wouldn't connect the two films upon first viewing, but after reading the theory, it begins to make more sense. Yet, nothing is perfect and there are some holes in this theory.
First of all, Men In Black mainly takes place in New York City, so Jay and Kay are typically there when dealing with aliens. Dude, Where’s My Car? takes place in California, explicitly being filmed in the areas of Santa Clarita, North Hollywood, and Glendale. Others pointed out that the opening scene in Men In Black takes place at the US/Mexico border, so the agents could be in different states actually. Also, the fact that Chester and Jesse aren't wearing black suits puts a flaw in this theory.
In the end, these two films may not have anything in common at first glance, but once reading into this theory and rewatching the two films, Beneficial-Piano9756 might be onto something. Although Will Smith is most likely focusing on his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot, maybe a Dude, Where’s My Car?, and Men In Black crossover is in the future.
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