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Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
2001 - R - 104 Mins.
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| Director: Kevin Smith | | Producer: Scott Mosier | | Written By: Kevin Smith | | Starring: Jay Mewes, Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Eliza Dushku, Will Ferrell |
| Review by: Marc Eastman |
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The question actually becomes, 'Is there anything to say about this movie?' The answer, oddly enough for a self-proclaimed movie critic, is no. This movie just comes down to a recommendation, a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. There is simply no point to anything else, just as there is no point to the movie.
I suppose you had to see it coming really. 'Clerks' was a magnificently funny movie, and I could watch it every six months or so (and I'm not real big on watching movies again). It got itself a tidy little cult following, and Kevin Smith became a name that people mentioned. His next movies were passable, if far more shallow, and while they paled in comparison to 'Clerks', they were rather surprising for an unknown. Smith did other things as well, perhaps most notably attaching himself as co-executive producer of 'Good Will Hunting' (a movie that, despite virtually unanimous dislike from film critics, I rather liked).
Our story (for the sake of argument) is that the comic-book based on Jay and Silent Bob is being made into a movie. At first, Jay and Bob are looking for a piece of the action, but when they learn that people are talking trash about them, and the movie, on the internet (and that there is an internet), their goal becomes stopping the movie from being made.
They embark on a road trip from New Jersey to Hollywood so that they can...??? Well, we don't know what they'll do, but it's sure to be a great ride (cough wink). Along the way they meet up with the gang from Scooby Doo, a group of sexy, twentyish criminal masterminds, and several other zany misadventures that give opportunity for cameo after cameo.
A decent poke in the eye to Hollywood that runs afoul of an ego run wild. The whole movie took about fifteen minutes to write (I hope), and the few funny moments do not make up for sitting through the mindless blathering that is the rest of the movie. I have a sneaking suspicion that Smith let partner-in-crime Jason Mewes (Jay) hold the reins quite a bit of the time on this one.
There are some funny moments. There are even some fairly intelligent funny moments, but they are few and far between, and the movie glosses over them as if hoping you won't be distracted by them. What we get here is rather a difficult movie. A movie that would be seriously difficult for anyone who was not already a Kevin Smith fan, but one that (hopefully) leaves Kevin Smith fans hopelessly disappointed.
In 'Clerks', there was a lot of cussing, a general vulgar tone, and some juvenile humor because it fit the 'project'. It was the reality of the thing we were talking about. One could argue, I suppose, that the reality of Jay is endless, mindless streams of vulgarity, and I might have to give them that. But, who cares? Having a lot of vulgarity in a movie is one thing. Having a lot of vulgarity in each and every sentence of a movie is quite another.
The end result is really a lot of drivel slapped together for the apparent entertainment of young teens, and is certainly a far cry from anything interesting or intelligent. If only Jay were the silent one.
Will you like it? Really, how would I know? If you hang out on playgrounds with large groups of twelve-year-old boys (well... for one thing, the police are watching you) and find yourself laughing at their jokes, then you are likely to find this pretty funny. If the mere fact that someone cannot stop cussing is appealing to you, then you're in for a good time here. Other than that, what little is good about this movie is in no way worth the viewing.
The acting is not very good, the jokes aren't actually jokes, and every character in the movie (other than Silent Bob, of course) is at least as stupid as Jay, and that's saying something.
If you've managed to miss it thus far, keep up the good work.
If you've ever been really drunk (and a guy) with four or five friends and a camcorder, then you already own this movie anyway.
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