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You're asking yourself, "Should I see the film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back?" My answer to you is a resounding "maybe!" In this movie, director Kevin Smith (also portraying the character Silent Bob) answers the question of "What does a filmmaker do when he has a bunch of extra film, has raised some money, and wants to make a self-indulgent romp which features a group of his friends. The result is a movie that did not need to be made. I don't mean that this film did not need to be made in the same vein as films like Serendipity or Zoolander. It's just that the movie has little to offer of value to anyone who is not already a fan of Kevin Smith's movies, or one of his friends or family.
Since I do like his films (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma), I did have fun with Jay and Silent Bob. The movie starts out kind of slow, first depicting how it is that Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob ended up hanging outside the Quick Stop. It seems each was left there as an infant by their mothers. They have been there ever since. Fast-forward to today and they find out that there is a film being made based upon the comic heroes (Bluntman and Chronic from Chasing Amy), which had been based upon their likeness by comic book writer Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck). The rub is that there is a lot of Internet buzz about the movie and most of it rips Jay and Silent Bob in the worst kind of way. Of course, the Internet postings are about the comic characters, but Jay and Bob fear that real-life people will not be able to distinguish between them and the comic/movie personas. The only way they can make this right is by stopping the film. So, they set out from New Jersey to Hollywood with that goal in mind.
Throughout the film we see familiar faces, whether in character or not from each of the previous films. I'm not so much of a fan that I can tell you all of the characters, but there are Dante and Randall from Clerks, Shannen Doherty from Mallrats, Joey Lauren Adams from Chasing Amy (and Mallrats), Jason Lee, Dwight Ewell (Chasing Amy), Matt Damon (Chasing Amy, Dogma), Chris Rock (Dogma), George Carlin (Dogma), Alanis Morisette (Dogma) and Ben Affleck (Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma) who plays his character from "Amy" as well as himself in this film.
On their way and ultimately upon their arrival, our heroes engage in a series of misadventures which is exactly what you would expect from a movie with this kind of setup. Since I've already said that the movie need not have been made, I don't see much value in recapping what goes on. What makes Jay and Silent Bob worth watching at all is the way in which they engage others. Jay's verbal style is very over-the-top and many people would find it offensive and misogynistic. What I think makes it bearable is that Jay delivers it with an uncompromising sincerity that is somewhat disarming. He also gets points for stupidity, and you tend to cut him some slack for that (Jay's kind of stupidity is more like "Three Stooges" stupidity than the irritating Adam Sandler character stupidity).
The film starts out slowly but picks up the pace and has enough bits that we don't have to dwell long on the humor that falls flat before we're off to something else.
Ultimately, I would sum it all up as, if you're a fan already, you'll probably have fun with this film. If you're not, try movies like Chasing Amy or Clerks before wading into the deep end of Kevin Smith's films (I consider Mallrats to be fun, but basically of no particular value). If caustic language and unflattering references towards women will curl your hair, this is not a film for you.
10-21-2001