Movie Review – “Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back”

I managed to attend last night’s local press
screening of the latest from View Askew. (Thanks
Greg!) The spoiler free review is behind the “read
more” link.

Premise

Jay and Silent Bob are the basis of a movie they’re
not getting paid
for that is being mocked by thousands of anonymous
Internet users.
Something must be done.

Cast, Crew, and Other Info

Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon,
Shannon Elizabeth,
Shannon Doherty, Will Farrell, Chris Rock, Jason Lee,
Scott Mosier,
and several others in cameo appearances will out the
cast. Once
again, View Askew Productions used Scott Mosier as a
producer and
Kevin Smith as writer and director. The IMDB page
has all the info.

The Jersey Chronicles

This is the fifth and final entry of Kevin Smith’s
Jersey
Chronicles. Most of the jokes in the first fifteen
minutes and last
two minutes are references to the first three movies
in the group,
Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing
Amy
. I only
noticed one joke that required the audience to have
seen
Dogma, the fourth film in the series. I
strongly recommend
seeing the first four. This movie was funny, and
would be funny if
you hadn’t seen the other movies, but I fear the
public screenings
will get off to a rough start when the people in the
audience see all
the references to Clerks, but haven’t seen
the movie. The
core of the movie will make sense to anyone, but some
jokes will be
missed.

How does this compare to the other Jersey Chronicles?
It uses far
more actions and less dialogue. It’s the least
poignant of the five,
and probably the most marketable as a result. The
numerous references
to previous films make it a nice way to close off the
series.

High Point

“I assure you we’re open.” That, or about a dozen
other scenes.
Ask me again later today and I’d probably make a
different choice.

Low Point

The many references to previous films is great for
those of us that
saw them, but I think it’ll be lost on most members
of the audience.
Most of the references are to Clerks and
Chasing
Amy
, which most people haven’t seen.

The GLAAD Thing

We’ve already
reported

on the GLAAD thing. Having seen the movie, I can say
there are about
a lot of homosexual friendly scenes. There are two
scenes which
include comments about homosexuals in a truly
derogatory sense, and in
the second on the character is chastised by his
friend very
effectively. It wasn’t quite as homosexual friendly
as Chasing
Amy
, but it was still friendly. I applaud
Smith’s efforts here.

The Scores

In terms of originality, this isn’t quite up
to par with
previous View Askew films. This one is just trying
to be good, dirty
fun. While all the plot devices have been used
before, I’ve never
seen them in this combination, so I’ll give it 4 out
of 6.

The effects were few and far between, but
they were almost
flawless. I give it 5 out of 6, because I think I
saw matte lines at
one point.

The plot in this movie is slightly more complex than
that of
Mallrats. Plot is not the point. The story
is more
complicated than it needs to be in this kind of
movie, but you’ll be
able to follow it easily. I give it 3 out of 6.

The acting was capable, but not outstanding.
Since the two
leads are playing characters based on their real-life
selves, it
wasn’t a hard task. The other characters are all
secondary, but
convincing. I give the acting 4 out of 6.

Now it’s time to evaluate the emotional
response
. I had a
lot of fun, I laughed a lot, and I really got a kick
out of seeing all
the old View Askew characters and where they are now.
(Well, Brandi
was missing, but I’ll assume that’s a problem with
Clare Forlani’s
schedule.) 4 out of 6.

The production values were high this time
around, which is
somewhat impressive given the variety of outdoor
locations that had to be
used for filming. Smith’s directing is a little
livelier than in the
past, since this film doesn’t focus on the dialogue
as much as the
other films. I give the production a 5 out of 6.

I had high hopes for a lot of movies this summer.
This is the only
one that truly paid off. Overall, I have
to give it a 6
out of 6. I’m tempted to see it again in theaters,
and I’ll certainly
own a copy the first day it’s out on DVD.

In total, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
is worth 31 out
of 42. Unfortunately, I don’t see how I can honestly
give it 37…

5 replies on “Movie Review – “Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back””

  1. Just a friendly reminder…
    This is a family-friendly site, believe it or not. If you don’t get the joke about “37,” this isn’t the place to ask. (You can ask me via email but you have to promise not to be all indignant and offended and stuff.)

    • Re: Just a friendly reminder…

      This is a family-friendly site, believe it or not. If you don’t get the joke about “37,” this isn’t the place to ask. (You can ask me via email but you have to promise not to be all indignant and offended and stuff.)

      “In A Row?”

      • Re: Just a friendly reminder…
        if you’re like me and have only seen the movies once or twice, that’s probably enough information to jog the old noggin.

  2. I saw the sneak preview last Saturday
    with Alexius, in fact…

    and here’s my brief review, not worth an entire writeup or i woulda offered last weekend. however, if you read my blog, then you’ve already read most of what i have to say.

    kevin smith didn’t have a whole lot to say, but it was a nice way to go out. unfortunately, i don’t think it will appeal to the masses because of the large number of inside jokes. the attendees at the sneak preview were all obviously kevin smith fans.

    talk about cameos, just about every previous cast member made an appearance except selma hayek. even baby smith was in it. yes, alanis is in it too, wait for the credits :)

    i don’t want to give away spoilers but what happens to jay just made the movie for me. i was happy :)

    • Re: I saw the sneak preview last Saturday

      with Alexius, in fact…

      Snip

      i don’t want to give away spoilers but what happens to jay just made the movie for me. i was happy :)

      Yeah, Can’t Believe They Died….

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