Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)

Whatever went wrong with Kevin Smith's 1995 film Mallrats has been fixed in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Now in 2001, Kevin Smith devotes ninety-five minutes of film to himself. Any negative reviews you may read are surely written by critics who weren't big fans of Smith's previous efforts (especially Mallrats). J&SBSB is a movie for the View Askew fans. The film contains many references to Clerks (1994), Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), and Dogma (1999) as well as the Clerks comic books and the Jay and Silent Bob comic book, Chasing Dogma, that bridges the gap between Chasing Amy and Dogma (actually, a great deal of the film's road trip comes directly from this book).

J&SBSB (the fifth film in the New Jersey Trilogy, much like The Hitchhiker's Guide five-part trilogy) is filled to the brim with crude humor that usually turns off most movie critics, but it's crude humor with Kevin Smith's familiar wit. It's written for Jason Mewes to really shine in his performance (I never thought I'd say that).

The major part of this film that stood out for me is the craft. The craft?! What the hell could I be talking about? As many know, Kevin Smith's movies are notorious for having almost zero camera moves. This is Kevin Smith's most technically superior film (probably because it's his highest budget). There are camera moves and excellent camera angles. In Smith's last film, Dogma, as well as this one, he utilizes the 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Why in the world he feels that he needs to use such scope in these films is beyond me.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is not a "real" movie. Chasing Amy is the closest Smith has come to that. For the View Askew/Kevin Smith fans, this is his best film. It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of movies Smith decides to make now that his New Jersey Trilogy has come to a close and he doesn't have the familiar characters to fall back on.

Fmovies: I'm a big Kevin Smith fan but this movie is just not funny. It saddens me if people think this type of stuff passes off as comedy.

We've really lowered our standards. For the ammount of talent this director/writer has to work with he can come up with a lot better -- I know I can. Nowadays it seems like if you have 2-3 funny scenes you can wrap a movie around it. What we have here is maybe two with a whole lot of riffing by Jay which to me has become pointess and boring since Mallrats. Maybe I'm just getting older but swearing, gay jokes and farting just kind of get old after 3-4 films, you know? At least the series is finally over and we'll see if Smith has any talent or not. Judging from this fluff I have extreme doubt.

What ever happened to the clever sharp dialogue? That's all his film's had before. None of them (sans Chasing Amy) had any plot but were full of juicy monologues and one-liners, not to mention plenty of satire and on-target observations of our society. But that's been slowly receding and I think Kevin Smith fans have got to be brainwashed here now because this is NOT a good movie. I loved his first 3 movies and I know the universe of the characters and I found all the references to his other films, fans, critics, the interent to all be very lazy and poorly handled. I feel cheated by the one guy who I thought wouldn't sell out but he did it a long time ago...

* (one star)

Not worth your money...

When I was first asked by a friend to watch this DVD with her my initial reaction was that it's not for me. Stoner humour is not my normal genre, cheech and chong bored me, as did many other films based around the same sort of thing. When she told me that it was the two goof balls out of Dogma I was even more concerned that I was about to give two hours of my life to trash.

What a change! Kevin Smith has worked a wonder on this film, the quick (if a little predictable) one liners, the skill of the cast, alongside the non stop comedy coming from cameos, often playing parodies of themselves makes it worth buying a copy. The only thing that lets the movie down is it's "art school" look; in places it can look like Smith happens to have some high powered friends that helped to promote this movie and make it the success it was. If you want a light hearted film to watch over and over again, picking up the more subtle gags then it's one for you.

Hope this helps. PG

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back fmovies. Let me start out by saying that like most people here, I am a Kevin Smith fan. I thought clerks and chasing amy were great movies from a brilliant director. Superb acting, great jokes, and great characters.

Unfortunately, his newest movie, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, has none of those things. First of all, let me point out that these characters are not the same Jay and Silent Bob many of you will remember from Clerks. They were annoying, drug-dealing losers who played a small role in the movie. Somewhere along the way, however, they became lovable goons that are the center of a movie. I'm not sure these characters are well developed enough to be the main characters.

Anyways, on to the movie. This movie starts out SLLLOOOOWWWWW...It was too bad that they bring back lots of great characters like Randall, Dante, and Brody, but only for quick cameo shots. None of them offer anything to this movie. It takes a while, but finally the jokes start rolling. Sadly, Kevin Smith kind of gave in to the "American Pie" movie style, which is just making lewd comments and sexual jokes. There is no intelligent, insightful dialogue, as you are used to from his other movies.

I think that the one bright spot of the movie was Chris Rock's character. He displays the charm and wittiness that you have come to know from characters like Banky, Randall, Hooper X, etc.

Overall, i would give this movie 4 stars out of 10. There are some funny spots, but they do not really start until about halfway through the movie.

Writer/director/co-star Kevin Smith bids farewell to the Jay and Silent Bob characters in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," the first of the five movies featuring them in which they are the stars. He couldn't have come up with a better send-off for them. True, there's no big ideas behind this film like there were in "Dogma" or "Chasing Amy," but really, the grand ideas in those movies came from the main characters, not Jay and Silent Bob. They were there for comic relief mainly. Therefore, it makes sense that "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" would be pure slapstick comedy. Think about it, do you really want a foul-mouthed, over-sexed stoner telling you how to live your life?

So anyway, it's a pure slapstick humor road movie. But unlike most slapstick comedies of late, this one's actually funny...extremely funny. Jay and Silent Bob find out that a movie is being made from a comic book (Bluntman & Chronic) that was based on them. They set off for Hollywood intending to stop it. Kevin Smith manages to pack so many jokes into what could have been another predictable, boring road comedy, that it's head and shoulders above the competition. I'm gonna have to go see it again, to make sure I didn't miss any jokes. Smith once again is showing off his incredible writing skills. Some people may not believe that any movie full of crude, R-rated humor is well written, but it is. Not only is it incredibly funny, but there's an intelligence and wit behind it that is unmistakably Kevin Smith's.

I was also pleased with the quality of acting in the movie, especially Jason Mewes (Jay). In past View Askew movies, Mewes has been funny, despite not doing a particularly good job of acting. The one thing I was worried about was whether or not he'd be able to carry a film mostly by himself (since Silent Bob is mostly, well, silent). But he definitely proved that he has grown enough as an actor to be able to head up a movie. Kevin Smith (Silent Bob) does his usual decent job. Since he doesn't say much, mainly just reacts, he can't to a great job, but he's still very funny. He's the perfect companion (or should I say, "hetero life mate" for Jay, who's the complete opposite. There are no real other big parts in the movie, but there are tons of little cameos. Really, I think it'd be easier to list the people who DON'T appear in it. Some of the highlights include a scene with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon playing themselves, on the set of "Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season," a scene with Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek, as themselves, playing the stars of the Bluntman and Chronic movie, and a scene with Mark Hamill parodying Star Wars. But really, almost all of the jokes are highlights.

For people who have seen the other films in Smith's New Jersey Chronicles series ("Clerks," "Mallrats," "Chasing Amy," & "Dogma"), there are quite a few in-jokes that you will find hilarious. In addition to playing himself, Affleck also reprises his role as Holden from "Chasing Amy," Jason Lee reprises his roles from "Chasing Amy" and "Mallrats," and Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran reprise their "Clerks" roles. Many others from the View Askewniverse appear as well. However, this movie is not only for fanboys. I saw it with a friend who hadn't seen any of the other four movies, and he thought it was hilarious too. The majority o

Kevin Smith's previous movies always seemed to be something of a mixed bag. Whether ambitious thematically, ("Dogma", "Chasing Amy"), or outright comedy, ("Mallrats"), the movies as a whole were less satisfactory than their many very funny parts. The sporadic appearances of the second string character duo of Jay and Silent Bob were always a welcome event.

The big question was whether this 2001 styled Laurel and Hardy, when promoted to center stage, could carry a movie. The answer much to my surprise was a resounding yes. Smith outdoes himself, producing an exceptional comedy. It's consistently inventive, with surprises, in jokes and many cameos from Smith regulars, all who seem to be genuinely having a ball. Never has irreverence and bad language been done with so much charm.

Those who disliked Smith's previous works would do well to stay away, they are unlikely to be converted. But for fans, Smith really does deliver the goods, in a big way.

I was totally baffled by reading that certain gay groups took offence to this movie. It would seem to me a total misreading as well as a great deficiency in the humor department. Apart from the fact that Smith lampoons all and sundry, it actually struck me as a particularly gay friendly movie. The fact that a gay character sums the movie up as one big gay joke should be taken as a compliment more than anything else.

It's clear that this brings Smith's cycle to a close. He couldn't have wished for a better ending.