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Forgotten Cult Flick of the Week:

I remember seeing Pulp Fiction at the theatres back in 1994 when it first opened and seeing the trailer for Clerks. I thought that it looked pretty cool and caught it when it came on video the next year. I fell in love with the movie immediately and passed it on to as many friends as I could who, in turn, appreciated it as much I did. I was one of the few who saw Mallrats (1995) theatrically and lived to tell, and really got into Chasing Amy (1997) and Dogma (1999). The main feature of Kevin Smith’s films, to me, has always been carry over characters Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) - they remind me of my brother and myself. Like any sibling pair, you’ve got one who is silent and stoic, and the other who won’t shut the fuck up. When Smith announced that he was finally going to make a feature that revolved solely around the duo, I nearly came in my pants. No more fast forwarding (or chapter skipping in the DVD era) to the Jay and Silent Bob scenes, here was a whole movie devoted to them. I got to catch a sneak preview of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) a week before it’s wide release, and while it’s not a perfect film, it is a perfectly hilarious one.

Jay and Silent Bob are just enjoying a normal afternoon of selling weed out in front of the Quick Stop in Leonardo, NJ when they talk some underage kids into fucking with Randall and Dante (from Clerks) who work the counter at the store. Randall gets pissed and calls the cops who have our two heroes banished from their place of business forever. Realizing that their clientele will shrink because of their change of address, they hook up with pal Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck, Chasing Amy) who lets them know that the Bluntman and Chronic comic that uses their likenesses is about to be turned into a major motion picture by Miramax. Jay and Bob get pissed as they were never presented any royalties from the comic which uses their likeness and set out to destroy the film before it starts filming – 3 days from now. Along the way from Leonardo to Hollywood, they meet a fellatio giving hitchhiker (George Carlin), run into the gang from Scooby Doo (and get stoned with them), discover the internet, hook up with a quartet of jewel thieves (led by Shannon Elizabeth), and kidnap an orangutan. That’s about the long and the short of the plot, except that thing involving Morris Day and the Time…

Yeah, the plot is kind of …stupid, but it doesn’t matter. What we have here is a rare occasion where a director has made a work that is completely his own vision and the audience will love as well. How can you not love a movie that shits on Ben Affleck? The dialogue, as usual, is amazing. If you’ve ever read any of the View Askew comics that feature Jay and Silent Bob, you can read the rants that Jay goes on but actually hearing them pour out of Jason Mewes’ mouth makes them funny. How funny is reading Hey baby, how would you like a fat guy in a trench coat to lick out your asshole? Sure, it might make you smile, but hearing it makes it hysterical. Everyone does a great job with his or her role, which is to have fun. It looks like everyone who participated in the film had a great time doing so and it did the impossible for me by actually making me think that Shannon Elizabeth is a talented comedienne. I haven’t laughed this hard since, well, since Clerks and it felt like a private joke that Kevin Smith fans are privy to while others may enjoy it on it’s own only somewhat. But with the good, comes the bad…

Smith spends a lot of time skewering the motion picture industry in the film. There are some honestly hilarious moments mocking career choices made by both Ben Affleck and Matt Damon that are worth the price of admission alone His satire of current Hollywood casting using the likes of Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek is honest and true, but his attacks are not limited to Hollywood only. Hollywood itself is satired very well in the film and viciously, to boot. Smith has a keen eye for what is the current trend in movie making and skewers it honestly. Why, then, does he feel the need to attack other filmmakers? There’s a running gag about P.T. Anderson that just isn’t funny. I don’t recall Anderson shitting on Smith, so why is Smith instigating a fight here? As a fan of both directors, they’re totally different and unique in their own ways. They make totally different kinds of films that are on different tracks and never the two shall meet. So why does he feel the need to harass Anderson? Because Anderson has Oscar nods under his belt and makes personal films while Smith is restricted to dick and fart jokes? Both are important genres that have their fans and the only person restricting him is himself. Let it go, Kev. You’re more of a household name than Anderson is anyway.

Another thing that rubs me the wrong way is how Smith portrays Internet movie fans and bulletin boards. If you’ve ever seen the View Askew website (www.viewaskew.com), there’s more geeks there than any site short of Ain’t It Cool News (www.aintitcoolnews.com). Obviously, Smith is taking a big, fat shit on Harry Knowles and his legion of film geek followers when he talks about how the guys who post on the boards are losers who don’t get laid and live in their parents basements. Kev, when’s the last time you looked at your own site? The only difference between the two is that everyone who posts at View Askew is pro-Smith. Personally, I think they’re all losers. Everybody’s got the right to their own opinion, but these idiots who start shit with other people posting comments are fucking pathetic. I could easily write volumes on why I hate Hollywood and post it looking for comments, but I don’t. I just post it so you can read my point of view – FUCK YOU! THIS IS MY WEBSITE! If Smith hates these Internet fanboys as much as he says he does, perhaps he should remove that section of the View Askew site.

All in all, I really liked this movie. I like Kevin Smith and I will continue liking his work until he really fucks up and does a romantic comedy, or worse, Mallrats 2. It took a lot of balls for him to do a movie this anti-Hollywood and I hope he keeps these sentiments in his heart for the rest of his career. While he claims that his will be the last of his Jay and Silent Bob movies, I think once Miramax sees the box office returns for this feature, we may end up seeing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Again at a theater near you sooner than we expect. After all, is it really a sequel if it doesn’t have a number in the title?

Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)