Review: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Fuck Jay and Silent Bob. Fuck them up their stupid asses.Rating: 10 / 10
Jay and Silent Bob, everyone’s two favourite stoners, are back for another Kevin Smith movie. This time however the movie is centred on the pair rather than their being supporting characters. Given that, the movie has less of a "message" than Kevin Smith's previous films (particularly Dogma and Chasing Amy). Also it seems from the closing credits of the film and other sources that this is the final send off for the two characters, and maybe even the “Viewaskewinverse” in general. And a fitting farewell it is.
For the uninitiated, we were first introduced to the Jay (played by Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (played by Kevin Smith himself) characters in Clerks, where they spend their time selling pot from the front of the Quick Stop convenience store. Jay is the offensive loudmouth and Silent Bob is, funnily enough, silent. Except for his profound statements that he makes towards the end of each movie he is in. The characters were then present in the other Kevin Smith films, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Dogma.
It is in front of the Quick Stop that we find them at the start of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (J&SBSB). We also see the first of the many characters recognisable from previous movies, namely Dante and Randal. Before the movie is finished we will have again seen a lot of the major characters from previous “Viewaskewinverse” Kevin Smith films, including Banky, Brodie, Holden, Alyssa and the previously mentioned Randal and Dante.
The story goes that Miramax (the actual production company behind Kevin Smith’s recent films) is going to make a movie of the “Bluntman and Chronic” comic created by Holden and Banky, the characters being based on Jay and Silent Bob. Jay and Silent Bob learn of this and realise they’re not getting a big fat cheque for the use of their likeness. Confronting Holden they are told that he sold his half of the “Bluntman and Chronic” rights to Banky, and so it’s Banky they need to talk to.
Holden also introduces the pair to the Internet (“What the FUCK is the Internet?!” asks Jay) and they find that people on chat boards are saying that Jay and Silent Bob are “Jerkoffs”. So the pair decides to head to Hollywood in order to stop the movie from being made, so people stop calling them jerkoffs on the Internet.
It is particularly interesting to note that the site they are browsing in the movie, www.moviepoopshoot.com, is an actual site created by Kevin Smith before the movie was launched and used to “hide” an Internet-Only trailer for the film. On the Movie Poop Shoot site you can also find the forum exactly as it is in the movie, including the posting that Jay and Silent Bob make later in the film.
So it’s with this setup that the movie really gets started, and the majority of the second act is a “road trip movie”, involving a monkey, 4 hot chicks, the Scooby Doo gang, bungling law enforcement, and many other shenanigans as you’d expect from a road trip film. Of course with Jay and Silent Bob it is much funnier than the average road trip film.
The final act of the film happens in the Miramax studio and there are lots of cameos and gratuitous references to other films, including ET, Star Wars, Scream and Good Will Hunting. Perhaps funniest of all is Mark Hamill playing the villain “Cock-Knocker”, who has a light-sabre duel with the stoners. I mention this because when I first saw the film I didn’t realise this was Mark Hamill until the credits, and his lines are much funnier when you realise who he is.
The movie contains a lot of “gay” humour, much of it coming from Jay (and partly from his “hetero life-partner” Silent Bob). Kevin Smith got a letter from a gay rights organisation in the US who were concerned with this material; however Kevin rightly believes that he is not making fun of the gay community at all. In his own words:
I pointed out that the jokes in the movie, while funny at face value, do far more than evoke chuckles at the expense of the gay community. I believe that they teach tolerance to the same audience that [the gay rights organisation] feels won't get the humor. When you have two main characters who've both - at one point or another - hinted at or flat-out copped to homo-erotic escapades, how on earth can that be considered "gay-bashing". It's more than you get in most "buddy" flicks. Did Murtaugh and Riggs ever cop to getting dreamy over the male anatomy? I think not.
All in all, it’s a great film, definitely one “for the fans” as Kevin Smith himself has said, although given that even someone who doesn’t know the previous films should still enjoy it. You’ll probably need to see it at least twice to pick up some of the references to the other Kevin Smith films (I noticed 37 twice.. I may have missed a couple more), or the other films that the movie refers to. Of course given the title of the movie, the most references (apart from previous Kevin Smith films) are Star Wars references.
J&SBSB opens in Australia in February 2002 (originally was supposed to open in November though).
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