| JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK |
 2001
-
USA
Director:
Kevin
Smith - Reviewed by Frankie
The plot, so to speak, follows Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob's (Smith) road trip from Jersey to Hollywood. They're trying to stop Hollywood from making a movie for which they are obviously the source material. (If that isn't irony, what is?) Along the way, they get involved with some very attractive "animal activists" who aren't who they appear to be, Jay falls in love, and joints are passed. A wide variety of celebrities make cameo appearances in the film, mostly spoofing themselves. Carrie Fisher, George Carlin, Jason Biggs, Shannon Doherty, Chris Rock, Matt Damon, and James Van Der Beek are just a few of the many surprises. Ben Affleck (looking quite dazed), Shannon Elizabeth, and Will Ferrell are all effective in small roles. One must really wonder what type of audience Smith was trying to reach with this film. The pop-culture references in the movie were far too current to last more than a year or two, and the stupid humor wasn't appealing because the film has a bitter core. The film is largely a cleverly disguised tirade about the studio system. It hits many things on the mark, but there isn't the same endearing quality that Dude, Where's My Car? or American Pie have. We simply don't care about the characters. Sadly, the film also aims its crosshairs on places other than Hollywood. A large majority of the humor is homophobic, and would be quite degrading and offensive to anyone with an open mind (Smith's usual crowd). Whether the jokes are meant to be taken seriously (as religious groups crack the jokes in Dogma), is in question, but there's just too much negative material to ignore. Then there's the humor that's just plain stupid, overdone, and unfunny. But for all the bad jokes, there are some great ones. I laughed uncontrollably around ten times, mostly at places where the rest of the audience didn't. When Silent Bob finally talks in the second half of the movie, the audience at my screening cheered. It was a Marcel-Marceau-in-Silent-Movie for the generation of 2001. Smith can do better. Don't see the movie if you don't know all about him, or don't see many movies. You'll just be presented with some rather vulgar humor, and there are better movies for that. For those more film-inclined, it's an exclusive party, but a lame one at that. |
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There's an unwritten screenwriting rule that you should never write about your own life because people aren't interested. Luckily, Cameron Crowe completely ignored this idea. Unfortunately, Kevin Smith did not.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is the world's biggest in-joke, a culmination to Smith's last four pictures,
Clerks, Mallrats, 