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Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
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| Year: |
2001
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Director: |
Kevin Smith
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| Stars: |
Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Shannon Elizabeth, Will Ferrell, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Diedrich Bader, Mark Hamill, Seann William Scott, Matt Damon, Judd Nelson, Carrie Fisher, George Carlin, James Van Der Beek, Jason Biggs, Chris Rock, Eliza Dushku
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| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Rating: |
  6 (from 4 votes) |
| Review: |
When Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) discover that a comic based on them is to be made into a new film, they are outraged at the reaction on the internet and find out they won't be seeing a penny. So they travel across America to Hollywood to stop the film being made.
The Road Movie. There have been many excellent, thought-provoking, even moving entries in this genre. And this film is one of them. Well, sort of. Apparently this is to be the last time Kevin Smith's recurring characters will appear in his films, so in this one he made them the centre of attention. You'll like this film if you're a fan of his other films (let's face it, no one else will want to see this), but unlike Chasing Amy and Dogma, this doesn't have anything meaningful to say about love or religion. It's a portrait, nay, a celebration of an enduring friendship. With lots of puerile jokes. Made me laugh, anyway...
Reminiscent of Smith's "Chasing Dogma" comic book, this film stops being a road movie two thirds of the way through and gradually disappears up its own arse as it becomes an in-joke movie - self-indulgence is the order of the day. Spot the references! Spot the stars! But as in-joke movies go, you could do worse. Is this whole enterprise just an excuse for Smith to fight Luke Skywalker in a light sabre duel? Or to beat up those on the internet who bitch about his movies? Well, good luck to him. That freeze frame at the end may become as iconic as the one at the end of The 400 Blows.
Also with: Carrie Fisher as a nun, George Carlin as a hitch-hiker, Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek as themselves, Chris Rock, Wes Craven and Gus Van Sant as directors, and a whoooole bunch of other people you'll recognise. Plus loads of pop culture references: Planet of the Apes, Daredevil, Purple Rain, an old joke about Scooby Doo, ad infinitum...
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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| Kevin Smith (1970 - )
American writer-director, by turns self-indulgent and hilarious. His first film Clerks brought him cult success, but he followed it with the big studio flop Mallrats. Chasing Amy was a return to form, and Dogma courted religious controversy. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was a tribute to the double act who appeared in every one of his films up until then (Silent Bob was played by Smith himself). Jersey Girl was a conventional romantic comedy that disappointed most of his fans.
Smith is also a writer of comic books, both established characters (Daredevil, Green Arrow) and his own creations. An attempt to turn Clerks into a cartoon series was a failure - but it was damn funny all the same. Fans of the characters could console themselves with the sequel Clerks II. He then offered sex comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno to mixed reviews, and Cop Out to downright terrible ones which led him to much public complaining. Self-proclaimed horror movie Red State, however, won him some of the best reactions of his career, though audiences were fewer in number. |
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