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Review: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
In a way, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a series of inside jokes, albeit some very funny ones. Smith gets that movies are a universal experience of his young audiences. Still, only attentive, die-hard movie buffs will get them all. The cast, plots and references are closely tied to other Smith films, lines, scenes, actors and plots, along with some that aren't his. (There is a hilarious spoof of Good Will Hunting which Ben Affleck and Matt Damon good-naturedly join in.) Smith's studio Miramax is continuously ridiculed (Bob Hope also used to poke fun at Paramount in some of his road-trip comedies with Bing Crosby). Chris Rock pops up with some riffs on race.
The movie's director, Gus Van Sant (CT:Good Will Hunting, not J&SBSB of course), has a funny bit part, and Smith parodies Charlie's Angels, The Fugitive (so specifically he includes a reference to Provasic, the drug that nearly destroyed Richard Kimble's life), Scooby-Doo,Hannibal, and even Star Wars (Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill appear, the latter in a loopy take-off on the mythic brawl between Darth and Luke.
The Net figures heavily in this sometimes hilarious if uneven movie, yet another comedy that self-referentially uses pop culture as humor, reference point and plot line. Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) are outraged to learn that kids online are flaming the movie based on the comic book -- Bluntman and The Chronic -- that the pair inspired. Besides, they're not getting a dime out of any of it. Jay, who's never even heard of the Net, is astonished to learn that people can call you names online, and he flames them back, urging them to lick his private parts. He and Bob set out for Hollywood to stop the movie's production and end the besmirching of their alleged reputations. They have various misadventures along the way, including dust-ups with a nun, the Utah State Police, animal rights activists, federal wildlife officials, and nasty child geeks.
There is, of course, the inevitable moment when Bob speaks -- as always, finally provoked by the genial stupidity and crudity of his "hetero-life mate" Jay. This movie backs off from the controversial religion-bashing of Dogma, which triggered some boycotts and threats on Smith and the movie's producers. If the movie is frequently gross in the now-standard scatalogical way of studio films aimed at the hip and the young, it is good-natured and easy-going, not even remotely controversial. Jay is still obsessed with getting laid and with his and everybody else's masculinity, but this round is much more relaxed about it.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is less of a coherent movie than a series of one-liners, set gags, set-ups and cultural in-jokes and spoofs. There are moments of genius and of stupidity, also flashes of satire and comic genius. It works best if you've seen a substantial chunk of the Smith canon. If you haven't, a lot of it will sail over your head. But it will still probably be the funniest movie you've seen all summer.
Carl G. Jung
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"With one breath, with one flow, You will know Synchronicity" -La Policia
My girlfriend and I found it outright the funniest, and most outright clever movie in a summer full of duds. But... I'm a big Kevin Smith fan, and I've got all his flicks on DVD, so I wonder how the movie would be recieved by a Smith Virgin.
Jason Mewes actually carries this movie, which is remarkable, since I think no one was more surprised than him that it went so well. He's hardly the mainstream movie star like Affleck or Jason Lee.
Also, while 'movie parody movies' have been a subgenre for ever (see: Scary Movie to Naked Gun) there hasn't been one done well in ages. This one is both bang on in it's attacks on those movies, but it's obviously done with love and respect, which makes it all the more clever.
At it's core, it's a road trip movie, which, since Capra invented the genre, has always proven to be a treat; the potential for unpredictable characters and situation is hard to exceed, and Kevin Smith handles it admirably.
All in all, after a summer full of disappointments (see: A.I. Kiss of the Dragon, Evolution, et al.) this was refreshing, fun and Smith's most inside joke, and simultaneously, most accessible movie yet.
If you have some patience for a seemingly offensive movie - but with a lot of heart - you couldn't do better this summer.
----------------- "I have a bone to pick, and a few to break." - Refused -------------------
"This movie backs off from the controversial religion-bashing of Dogma..."
/., but it's usually off-center geek misinformation, not repeated mainstream misinformation).
Wrong. That is the accusation that was lobbed against Kevin Smith, but I'm disappointed to see this mainstream misinformation repeated here. (Yes, I know, there's plenty of misinformation on
Dogma was a funny movie that parodied religious dogma, not religious beliefs. Kevin Smith was and is a Catholic, and the movie was actually respectful of Catholic beliefs -- just not rigid dogma. Typically, this flew right over the Catholic church's head and they protested, looking ignorant in the process. I'm surprised to see Katz repeating this untrue accusation here.
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Private Essayist
It's as if he sat down and thought about what statement he could possibly get the MOST wrong.
Dogma is anything but bashing religion. What Dogma criticizes is the way some people choose to blindly worship the church. This, like most things, upset the church. Dogma is actually a very pro religion film, albeit one with plenty of good dick and fart jokes. The message Kevin wanted you to take away from the film is believe in god because you think it's right, not because some old institution tells you to.
-Jeff
I like to play with Shiny Objects and Yarn.
Well, I just got back from church, so I'm feeling especially qualified to comment at this point. Every person I've seen Dogma with (I've seen it at least 3 times), including my aunt who has a doctorate in theology, has enjoyed it and agreed that it's a great movie. In fact, Catholics appreciate the movie more than anyone else. As with any parody, the more familiar you are with the original, the better you appreciate the parody.
This is getting really tiresome, that every time Katz writes an article, an ungodly degree of the commentary is solely devoted to bashing Katz, discussing how to filter him, or bashing the people who are bashing him. (And now I'm contributing to that myself... :)) Somebody perhaps needs to get a life. And can't anyone try to actually discuss the topic of the article, instead of the author???
--Dan
Web Tips
My pastor was the one who told me about Dogma. Yes, it pokes fun at religion, but it does not challenge faith.
It was actually very moving at times. Take the scene where Linda Fiorentino was struggling with being up to the task of saving the world, and the angel tells the story of having to be there when a young Jesus was starting to understand his mission. Or the scene in the parking garage where Ben Affleck is letting loose about being kicked out of heaven and missing the presence of God, and that the humans don't even realize what they are missing.
If that's offensive, it is only so because of the very rigid, do-my-thinking-for-me dogma that the movie is about.
Remember, that Jesus himself was one who challenged the "dogma" of his age. He was a lawbreaker in the minds of many because he healed on the Sabbath and touched the unclean and let prostitutes pay him honor. What he did was more offensive as the movie Dogma.
It was not that long ago that Anabaptists, some of the most Christ-like people of their age, were persecuted by the Catholic Church for being offensive - by practicing adult baptism (rather like the baptism Jesus had, I suppose). Just because people take offense at something does not mean that it is bad; it is often an indication that it is good.
Dogma challenged the beliefs of Catholics who go to chuch, say the prayers, do the ritual, but have not faintest idea of what they are saying, and live no differently than those who reject the Church. I would suggest that those people need their belief challenged. And I would say that it's too bad Kevin Smith has to do it, but that is only because their priest won't.
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