Jay und Silent Bob schlagen zurück

Kevin Smith proved with J.S.B.S.B. that he is no longer just a glorified independent film maker. In past films, Kevin Smith seemed to have a limited appeal, mostly among arm-chair directors (such as myself)who had become jaded with the Hollywood film industry, but with his slap-stick-like middle finger to the movie industry he seems to have branched out and struck a note with the "MTV audience" (10 to 16 year olds). Smith's grade-school humor, delivered mostly by Jay, is nothing new to previous movies, but with the focus on Jay & Silent Bob this humor became more evident AND more inviting to a younger audience.

Nonetheless, Smith has not alienated his core audience who are, "...over and underweight guys who can't get laid." (See Holden McNeil in "Chasing Amy"). The simple visual affects, as in his past movies, are FAR overshadowed by the fantastic dialogue he writes which has Hollywood stars chomping at the bit to deliver. If anything, the only disappointment was a very thin plot (OK, Mallrats: Had a plot, no one ever said it was a good one). But as he did in Mallrats, for what J.S.B.S.B. is lacking in plot, Smith sure as hell made up for it in laughs.

This movie junkie gives "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" a 9 out of 10.. .let's just hope what Chris Rock says in the movie doesn't come true. See the movie and you'll get what I mean.

The movie has its moments, but it's just a hodge podge of sometimes clever (sometimes not) walk-on cameos, a road trip (which is a poor screen writing trick to fill a weak plot with 30-40 minutes of loose gags), silly subplots and weak "ha-ha" gags breaking the fourth wall.

Half the movie is an insult to people who can best be described as The Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons (myself included). Half of the "Joke" is ripping on his own fanbase, and any average person who critiques him negatively over the net. This cheazy ploy went out with low-brow comics ripping on Siskel and Ebert (real critics), but now it's like the Slapshot scene where they go into the audience and beat-up their fans.

Except Slap Shot was funny.

Maybe I'm old (I'm Kevin Smith's Age). But F just isn't funny anymore Be clever. Why was Scooby Doo in the movie? It was a waste of 10 minutes that did nothing to the plot. Couldn't he tie that in somehow humously at the end like, those kids show up to expose the jewel theifs, who end up being 3 cranky old men who woulda gotten away with it. And the love interest... we won't even get into that believability.

Anyhow. Kevin, if you ever wanna come over and beat me up, drop me a note and I'll give ya my address.

Whether or not you enjoy `Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' is going to depend a lot on whether or not you enjoy director Kevin Smith. I, for one, think the guy is a genius. If you don't mind my lauding his name, read on. First, a little background for the uninitiated.

Kevin Smith's movies (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and now JSBSB) are a world created by the director himself, in the sense that all are interconnected by characters, plot points, and subtle references. The one constant, though, is the entity known as Jay and Silent Bob, a pair of pot dealers who have more or less spent their entire lives standing in front of the Quik-Stop convenience store. Jay (Jason Mewes) is the long-haired guy we all knew in high school, his endless stream of four-letter epithets almost endearing because the goofy guy just doesn't know any better. Silent Bob (played by director Kevin Smith), Jay's self-described `hetero life-mate' stands by without speaking a word and provides some sort of moral counterpoint for the duo.

In Smith's `Chasing Amy,' Banky and Holden (Jason Lee and Ben Affleck, respectively) created a comic book entitled `Bluntman and Chronic,' based on their real-life buddies Jay and Silent Bob. Fast-forward to `Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.'

Banky has sold the rights to his comic to Miramax pictures, leaving Jay and Silent Bob in the dark about the business deal. Jay and Bob, with help from Holden, discover via the Internet (`What's the Internet?' asks Jay) that a movie based on them is about to start production. Realizing that they won't see a dime of the money, and even more upset by their defamation on Internet message boards, they decide to truck across the country to stop the film from being produced.

It's important to note that while the comedy is crude, slapstick, and even resorts to fart jokes, it's not dumb comedy, it's satire at it's finest, reminiscent of such self-deprecating masterpieces as `Pee-Wee's Big Adventure' and `Blazing Saddles.' After the fairly serious `Chasing Amy' and the spiritually overtoned `Dogma,' we see that Smith has decided to get together with his buddies and put together one big inside joke. Fortunately, he's decided to let a few of us in on it. The viewer's enjoyment of the movie is going to depend completely on his or her knowledge of Smith's previous films and characters.

Smith's friends show up in cameos, from Chris Rock to Will Ferrell to Alanis Morrissette to Carrie Fisher to Mark Hamill (Smith is an infamous Star Wars fanatic). You can literally see a man's childhood dream coming true when at one point, Smith's Bob gets to carry on a lightsaber duel with Hamill.

Local interest: In one of the many subplots, a group of female jewel thieves bring Jay and Silent Bob to our very own Boulder, Colorado, to steal a monkey from a medical testing facility. `Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' is a comedy, and doesn't try to be anything else. The only thing I felt was missing was one of Jason Lee's inspired monologues bitterly bemoaning the state of society. Some of Shannon Elizabeth's screen time could have been cut, I felt, in favor of some trademark Smith dialogue.

Smith now intends to focus his time on more dramatic pursuits, and we are given this as the fifth and last film in his so-called `Jersey Trilogy.' The bottom line is, Smith loves his fans, and this film was created for the loyal. A fitting send-off for Jay and Silent Bob, this film gets an `A-.'

If you're the type of movie goer who gets uptight hearing countless F Bombs and explicit sexual discussion, then please move along and let others get in line to see one of the Funniest movies I have seen in my recent memory.

"Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is a movie that has so much going on, that one screening is not enough for me to all that was thrown at me in 90 plus minutes.

Writer/Director/Co-Star, Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) has without a doubt created if not his best movie, then it would have to be his funniest. A fitting conclusion to his "New Jersey Trilogy" (that now consists of five films instead of the originally planned three) forgoes the serious religious overtones of "Dogma" and the Sexuality issues brought forth in "Chasing Amy" to go for pure Laughs...............and it succeeds.

The film's main plot revolves around the familiar duo of Jay (Jason Mewes) and his "Heterosexual Life mate" Silent Bob and their attempts to thwart a movie based on a comic book about Jay and Bob. It's essentially a road picture as the guys make their way from Leonardo, New Jersey to Hollywood. Along the way they meet international Jewel Thieves, Steal a Monkey, Meet The Scooby Doo gang, Try and Beat up Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and much more.

As Silly as all this sounds it's done in such a way that's smart, witty, and still has a touch of class about it. And that's pretty hard to do considering I can't even tell you some of the content of the movie without being censored heavily.

If you are at all familiar with Smith's movies (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma) you will get a kick out of the countless cameos and connections to his other films. For Example, Jason Lee reprises two roles (one from "Mallrats" and one from "Chasing Amy") as does Ben Affleck. Matt Damon appears as himself playing "Will Hunting" in a fictitious sequel to "Good Will Hunting" entitled `Good Will Hunting II: Hunting Season". There are two highlights of this movie that I need to talk about. First Being Jason Mewes as "Jay". This guy is for real, by far and away he has put in the best performance of all his five film appearances as "Jay" He carries the picture and is side splittingly funny. It is my hope that he can now get other roles in movies besides the loveable Dope smoking "Jay". Secondly I want to address Kevin Smith's Directing. To all the people who say Smith can't direct need to see "Jay and Silent Bob". His use of motion should silence everyone who claims there are no moving shots in a Smith film!!! It's almost become fashionable to blast Smiths direction because that's the Thing to do. With all the great action and movement in "Jay and Silent Bob' Smith can finally shrug off all the criticisms of the past.

What can I say to sum up? It's a brilliant movie for everyone, not just Smith fans. You will laugh and laugh some more. Do yourself a favour and go see it as soon as you can!

It's almost impossible to believe that this film is from the self same Kevin Smith who wrote and directed Clerks. Gone is the biting wit and odd charm of that film, and in its place, big-budget pointlessness and a dozen more dick jokes. The many cameo appearances of characters from the other movies which comprise the extended 'New Jersey Trilogy' (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy and the woeful Dogma) serve only to remind the viewer just how good - or even average - Smith used to be. Indeed, whatever it was that made his work so individual and enjoyable was clearly lost some time ago.

Directorially, the 'post-modern' elements (several actors playing dual roles) are fairly well-handled, though presumably quite confusing for those who haven't seen earlier entries in the series. Unfortunately, however, Smith's usual lack of visual awareness and style is once more in evidence. In Clerks it didn't matter: the script was so tight that the primitive direction was irrelevant, but here, with hardly any gags hitting the mark (special mention for Mark Hamill's spectacularly unfunny cameo) it's extremely noticeable.

The acting too, is of a poor standard with too many lines and jokes fluffed, though Jason Mewes' usual one-note performance (essentially playing a toned-down version of himself, by all accounts) works well here. All in all, more puerile and less funny than its predecessors, though foul-mouthed children, stoners and idiots may take to it more than most.