I’ve been a huge fan of director/write Kevin Smith since “Clerks” first was released. I’ve always made it a point of watching all his films endlessly, trying to catch all the little interrelationships and details. I then would proceed to recommend the collection of movies to friends and acquaintances. But now, while “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” was entertaining, I feel less inclined to recommend it to a buddy. It definitely has a lot of humorous stuff going on throughout and a lot of great cameos, but I somehow feel that the film is a letdown compared to Smith’s other films.

Smith himself is ready to move on from the set of five flicks he’s now made (”Clerks,” “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy,” “Dogma” and now “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back”), saying this will be the last to feature Jay & Silent Bob. As big as a fan as I’ve been over the years of Smith, I think he’s making the right move putting his established characters to rest following this film.

The whole premise of the movie are that Jay & Silent Bob, played by Jason Mewes and Smith himself, respectively have found out that a comic book that is based on their likenesses (first introduced in Smith’s flick, “Chasing Amy”) is being transformed into a major motion picture. After discovering from one of the two creators of the comic book, Holden McNeil (played by Ben Affleck) who has since shared his half of the comic book, the two start their journey towards Hollywood to save their “good names,” planning to trash the Hollywood production in the process.

Along the way, they meet up with a gang of hot females, with Shannon Elizabeth and Ali Larter being among the group (along with Smith’s own wife). Jay immediately falls for Shannon Elizabeth, and who can blame him?

My biggest gripe about the film is the fact that it’s so insider. I’ve seen all the movies many times and know them inside out, so it’s not a matter of me not understanding the inside jokes, I just think a lot of the humor and jokes will be lost on a lot of the audience. At the same time, Smith did do this on purpose, making this film for the fans. I acknowledge that, but think it was the wrong choice. All the classic comedies sit by themselves and don’t require prerequisites. I had hoped “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” wouldn’t either.

Despite, this insider stuff that plagues the film, it is still a quality comedy, worthy of at least a rental. Once Jay & Silent Bob make it to Hollywood, the movie really takes off and is filled with a lot of laughs and parody, such as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck making fun of themselves, filming “Good Will Hunting 2.”

I think my favorite scene involved Jay & Silent Bob meeting up with their big screen counterparts, played by Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek. Biggs and Van Der Beek both make fun of themselves, while Jay asks Biggs if he’s had Shannon Elizabeth while doing “American Pie” and if Van Der Beek has had Katie Holmes during their tenure together on “Dawson’s Creek.” I have to say, this little two minute scene is my favorite and was very amusing.

The cast does a great job overall, and it’s obvious most everyone involved in filming the flick had a great time coming in to do this film, but the buddy travel film angle is kind of tired. Additionally, as I’m writing this, I’m realizing another problem is that while it is a comedy and obviously characters aren’t going to be majorly developed, you really don’t get much of any one character outside of Jay & Silent Bob. Will Ferrell, who plays the Wildlife and Game Officer out to catch the two men is in in the film a fair amount, but still, too much of the film is jumping from one cameo to the next.

Like a lot of Smith’s movies, I think I may like it more after watching it a second time. My problem with this one though is I don’t have as much desire to go back and watch it again.

The movie is worth seeing, but I think it’s a wait-for-video type of flick. The movie is hilarious in parts, but too much of it relies on having seen the other Smith films. As much as I love Kevin Smith’s films, I think Kevin Smith is making the right move at the right time to put his series/interrelated movies to rest.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 10th, 2001 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Film, Movie Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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