Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
A long time ago, in front of a convenience store far, far away.

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Clerks  | Mallrats | Chasing Amy | Dogma | Jay & Silent Bob | Jersey Girl | The Green Hornet
Movie Stills:

A Hysterically tearful goodbye to everyone’s favorite Snoochie Boochies: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
by Christian De Matteo

HUGE

Kevin Smith’s celebration of the inane adventures of his two stoner bookends is brilliant, fun and almost nonstop laughs…the kind that hurt your stomach and you don’t mind.  Since Smith’s brilliant entrance onto the scene with Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob have been the glue that held his following films firmly in the View Askewniverse, coming to save the serious moments from being too serious and also providing unexpected poignancy at odd times.  Master of the running gag and the returning one, Smith’s J&SBSB (as the movie will be referred to here for those of us into the whole brevity thing) is the most incredible finale he could possibly have done.

Up till now, Smith’s movies have moved to bigger concepts, braver points and ofttimes exceptionally intelligent satire.  Tackling all the “not-polite-to-discuss” issues ranging from religion (Dogma) to politics and male insecurity (Chasing Amy), and throwing in necrophilia, the working world and teen culture, Jay and Silent Bob have always been the guys to firmly replant the audience from floating around in high concepts back…well, back in the gutter.  Think about the heaviest of heavy moments in Dogma, when Bethany is discovering her Holy lineage, and Jay pipes in, “So, like, that makes Bethany part black?”  Brilliant.

Now with J&SBSB, Smith officially roots himself in the gutter for his big finale, in a way that only he could pull off, cleverly.  The film works off the basic framing device that Jay and Silent Bob need to stop a movie based on the comic characters Bluntman and Chronic that are based on them; so Jay and Bob set off for Hollywood.  That’s the plot.  And it’s enough.  The device gives Smith opportunities to poke tons of fun at the film industry, at Miramax, at society, politics and best of all, cheap movie cliches, which J&SBSB uses perfectly.  I give you an incognito gang of beautiful Charlie’s Angels-esque jewel thieves dressed in the tightest black leather you’ve ever seen.  And one of them is Eliza Dushku (Bring It On) and another is Shannon Elizabeth (American Pie 1and 2).  Thank you, Kevin.

An in-joke for Kevin Smith fans the entire way through, you feel as though you’ve finally gotten the big thank you he always talks about for sticking with him for the whole evolution.  And what better way to say thanks than with a total, Bill and Ted style devolution back to the scummiest and sleaziest and dirtiest and most wonderfully juvenile “dick and fart jokes” that we first began running to Kevin Smith movies for.

And what else do we get?  An amazing and scathing set of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck jokes given to us by none other than…Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.  Together they hack apart all off their respective role choices, including a hysterical riff on their mutual star turn, Good Will Hunting.  I will say no more, for this is one of the true joys of the film.

All and all, J&SBSB is an incredible comedy with more jokes per minute than most other comedies, that allows Jason Mewes to do his very worst, and be that guy you would never want to subject yourself to hanging around…but that you just can’t stop watching.  Paired with Smith’s own, perfectly performed, self-muted Silent Bob whose facial expressions are by themselves some of the funniest lines in the movie, the two rule the screen.  Add in the great Will Ferrel (The Ladies Man), Carrie Fisher (Star Wars…so there, Carrie!), George Carlin (Rufus in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure), Jason Biggs (American Pie), James Vanderbeek (“Dawson’s Creek”), Seann William Scott (Evolution), Chris Rock (Lethal Weapon 4), and what feels like hundreds of other cameo and performances that make the movie even more fun to watch.

Well done, Mr. Smith.  You’ve guaranteed yourself at least one returning customer, and probably hundreds more.

Oh…and stay through every last bit of the credits, reading carefully.  Trust me, you’ll be GLAAD you did.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Gold
by Michael Flanagan

HUGE

It’s difficult to write an Internet-ready review for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, knowing that this review will be discussed in a Forum, and knowing that someone will disagree with this review, and for that, someone could get pummeled by the dynamic duo themselves.  But that’s a chance I’m willing to take, because J&SBSB is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen.  This could be conceived as a comment on my sense of humor, since the film is set on the basis of “dick and fart” jokes, but I think it’s more of a comment on what it is to be funny; smart and funny.  And before I explain more, I must point out that it’s difficult to write a review for this film without cursing…but I’ll do my darn best.

While Dogma was intelligent based on its religious comments and philosophies, and Chasing Amy because of it’s societal narration, and Mallrats simply as a throwback to the early Harold Ramis type movies, and Clerks because it showed what it is to be a guy hanging with a guy, J&SBSB is funny because writer director Kevin Smith knows his source, and he knows it because of the previous films mentioned.

This is a movie for movies and movie-lovers, and about movies and movie lovers.  It reflects much of what Smith has been through in making movies, and pays appropriate and hysterical homage to the films that have inspired him.  The most obvious inspiration, of course, is Star Wars.  George Lucas must love Kevin Smith, because it’s a wonder View Askew Productions hasn’t been sued.  The allusions to that classic trilogy are great, funny, and smart, and most importantly, not overdone, right down to appearances by both a titled Mark Hamill and a habited Carrie Fisher.  Each film Smith tackles is handled with the same humorous care, and even carries over into television.  Don’t think Jay is the type of guy who would watch “Dawson’s Creek?”  Think again.

J&SBSB does all this, and at the same time it honors the films that Smith has made, the films that have carried him here.  The main characters from each film have at least a cameo (sometimes two, for the repeat offenders).  And each cameo is done well, yet still hold the character of those films so that this isn’t just an excuse to include them in this movie.  Holden McNeil of Amy is still the somewhat reclusive, quiet soul.  His old partner Banky has grown in character as well, though not in merit.  He’s still the whiny, self-seeking loner that he always was.  The clerks of Clerks are still…clerks, and Dante is still not supposed to be there.  There are other surprises that don’t need to be ruined here, but be sure to stay after the credits to find out that, fortunately for all of us, another character of another film still remains…That Woman.

Finally, the very end.  I won’t give that away, either, but watch the lead characters together in the credits sequence.  Watch closely.  In the final freeze-frame of the movie, Jay and Silent Bob become Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, friends together, out of character, and doing what you have to do to make a great comedy: having a great fucking time.  Here’s to Jay and Silent Bob.

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