I recently watched Yoga Hosers, the most recent Kevin Smith film. It didn’t work for me in anyway, but I didn’t want to stop being a Smith supporter. I noticed that IFC was playing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back it seemed like good timing. While the movie is a simplistic Golden Fleece story, where the two stoners set off on a quest to stop the production of the Bluntman and Chronic movie. The film makes a lot of jokes that just work for me and reminded me why I’ve been a Kevin Smith fan for so long. I give Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a favorite of mine
The Bluntman and Chronic comic book, from Kevin Smith’s film Chasing Amy, written by Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) is being turned into a movie. Jay and Silent Bob find out and look to get their money for likeness rights and find out that people are bashing their fictional alter ego’s on the internet. They set out from Jersey to Hollywood on a journey to put an end to this film so people stop bashing their fictional counterparts.
There is a theme that both Yoga Hosers and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back share, which is critics hate Kevin Smith. In JSBSB it’s the anonymity of the internet that is the target of his complaint, but Yoga Hosers is geared towards all critics. The difference is that JSBSB really seems to approach it with a bit of fun and silliness. Yoga Hosers tone towards critics is much more bitter and whiny. While the tone isn’t the downfall of Yoga Hosers, it definitely doesn’t help the film in any way. However, I don’t want to spend another review bashing the new film as this one has plenty of fun to discuss.
Kevin Smith packs in the cameos
It’s clear that Smith called in his cameo favors as they occur in abundance. Chris Rock, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, Shannon Doherty, Mark Hamill, Jamie Kennedy, Tracy Morgan, Jon Stewart, Seann William Scott, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, James Van Der Beek, Jason Biggs, Carrie Fisher, Judd Nelson, and George Carlin all show up in some capacity. Then you have the major players of Jason Mewes and Smith in the titular roles. They end up getting hunted by Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly (Will Ferrell) after being used as pawns by a group of sexy diamond thieves played by Shannon Elizabeth, Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter, and Smith’s wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith. The film follows a solid formula both for the plot and Smith sense of humor. Yet, both work and Mewes was able to carry the film quite well giving his best performance.
My favorite moment is pretty much right at the beginning. The two guys are standing outside of Quickstop and end up really pissing off Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), the guys from Clerks, who finally call in the police. While the scene is simple, it’s full of Smith references and sets the tone for what the movie is. It’s a film made for the fans and will bring what Smith does best. Dick and Fart jokes surrounded with pop-cultural references with a fun tone all around. It’s not a perfect movie, but it is a lot of fun.
Final thoughts on Jay and Silent Bob
In many ways, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was the precursor for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s not a film you could jump into and get completely, but if you like the style of humor you’ll probably still laugh. I actually saw this before seeing Chasing Amy or Dogma back in 2001 and didn’t get all the references on my first watch. It is the movie that made me invest a lot of time and money in collecting all of Smith’s films. I have never regretted it and still enjoy these films. Hopefully, Clerks 3 and Mallbrats will not tarnish these films.
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