Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back
Written and Directed by: John Carpenter
Starring: Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Rock

Snootchie Bootchies. Bung!

Will this be the last time we hear memorable phrases such as these? It very well could be.

This is Kevin Smith’s fifth film, and supposedly his final film involving the “Jersey” characters, so he decided to make it an event. He threw off the overhyped “gauntlet”, and sat down to write a straight out comedy that would tie all the characters and storylines together into one neat little package. Oh, and this time around he decided there would be no serious messages, no limits, and no taboos. I’m sure you can only imagine what Kevin Smith would create under such a scenario.

The film finds Jay and Silent Bob being the central characters in a film for the first time. When Dante and Randall finally decide that it’s time to deal with the pesky neighbourhood drug dealers, Jay and Bob are slapped with a restraining order and are forced to live life outside the Quick Stop. Of course, the next logical place for them to hang out is Brody’s comic book store. While they are there, they discover that there is a Hollywood film being made based on the Bluntman & Chronic comic book (a comic that, oddly enough, happens to be based on Jay and Silent Bob themselves, as seen in Chasing Amy). Since they aren’t getting any royalties from it, they decide to hitch a ride to Hollywood to see what the deal is. Along the way, they discover the mysterious communications world known as the “internet”, and are horrified to find that there are large groups of complete strangers posting messages about how much they think Jay and Silent Bob suck. (Personally, my favourite jokes were the ones regarding internet message boards. He spoofed on-line culture with such perfection that I couldn’t contain myself.)

So anyways, since they don’t want people talkin shit about them, they change their plans slightly. They head to Hollywood with one goal in mind: to stop the Bluntman & Chronic movie from ever getting made. And that right there basically opens the doors for Kevin Smith’s twisted imagination to bring them through an outrageous adventure that only he could ever dream up.

The resulting movie is a little disorganized and jumbled in terms of story, even moreso than his past films. Of course, he has an excuse this time, because he is trying to incorporate all of the characters from past films into the story and also trying to find small parts for all of his many new friends both inside and outside the film industry. At least it sounds like a good excuse. Additional confusion stems from the fact that certain actors, such as Ben Affleck and Jason Lee, have played multiple roles in his past movies. The huge number of cameos just adds to the chaos: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Joe Quesada, Judd Nelson and even Smith’s own wife and baby daughter all make appearances.

Incidentally, I felt bad for Mark Hamill. His role in this film was less than dignifying, and after putting him in such a ridiculous costume, they also thought it might be necessary to flash a little message on the screen to say, “Hey, you might not recognize him, but this is Mark Hamill!” How embarassing is that?

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is certainly a fitting way to wrap up all of the tales that have been told thus far in the View Askew-niverse, but I still don’t think Jay and Silent Bob were ever meant to be the stars of a feature length film. I think they are better as supporting characters, because the more on-screen time they have, the less amusing they become. Jay’s blunt and obnoxious lines start to get .. well.. annoying when you hear them every few seconds. And Silent Bob’s non-speaking gimmick is stretched to the limit here. I mean, I thought he was just supposed to be sort of a quiet guy, overshadowed by Jay’s loud mouth. Not a freakin’ mime! The least they could have done is explained why he’s silent all the time, since we are shown that he can indeed talk when he chooses to. Still, Smith’s facial expressions never cease to amuse me, so I guess I shouldn’t really complain.

As far as the humour goes in this film, well, I laughed. But I didn’t laugh as much as most of the other people in the theatre. There was obviously a lot of toilet humour, which I am not adverse to, but some of the dick and fart jokes seemed a little too low brow even for Kevin Smith. There’s been enough crass teen comedies out there, and I usually admire Kevin Smith for at least being a little witty about things. At times it also comes dangerously close to being a gimmicky “spoof movie”, with pokes at Good Will Hunting, Scream, The Fugitive, and E.T. just to name a few. But Kevin Smith lives and breathes pop culture, so these types of references are always expected to pop up in his movies. And of course, a Kevin Smith movie isn’t a Kevin Smith movie without a few really nerdy Star Wars jokes to boot.

A good chunk of the comedy comes from mocking Hollywood; certainly a worthy target, but it’s all stuff we’ve seen a million times before. You know, bickering actors that are full of themselves, big shot directors who don’t even lift a finger on the set… that kind of thing. One amusing aspect of this movie is the number of times they cut up Ben Affleck and the movies he has been in. It’s all in good fun though. Affleck actually appears in the film playing a satirical version of himself, as does Matt Damon.

One of the things I like about Kevin Smith is that he plays fair. If he is going to make fun of other people, he also has no qualms about making fun of himself. This is cute and amusing, but the problem is that self-deprecation can be rather distracting when it’s done in overabundance. It’s almost like offering an apology for things that have been done in the past. I was getting a little tired of many of the obviously ironic events in the film.

As most dedicated View Askew fans enjoy telling people, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is “one big inside joke”. Yes, I suppose that’s true, and that’s fine by me, since I’ve seen his other films, but a lot of the references to past movies were just too obvious to be deserving of a laugh. For example, Dante from Clerks constantly asserting, “I wasn’t even supposed to be here today”, or Jason Lee recycling the whole chocolate covered pretzels joke from Mallrats. Or reusing the running gag from Chasing Amy where people repeatedly hassle Banky about being a “tracer”. These aren’t particularly funny, nor are they overly obscure. I suppose they are supposed to be cute little reminders for the View Askew fans, but using the most well-known jokes from past movies is almost insulting to hardcore fans.

The bottom line is that this is a fun movie, but I am guessing that it was a lot more fun to make than it is to watch. And it’s probably a lot more fun to watch if you were one of the people making it.

Kevin Smith has certainly not yet grown or evolved as a director, but of course, he can just make fun of himself for that fact and we’ll all laugh it off. I am a big fan of Kevin Smith’s work, but lately I am feeling like I am outgrowing him. The indie, low budget charm of his movies is wearing off, and now it’s time for him to move on to something new. I can accept and enjoy this movie for what it is, but I am more interested to see what his next projects will be. Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back is an amusing movie, but I’m thankful that Smith is smart enough to know where to draw the line. And here is exactly where it should be drawn. — Sean