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| Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back |
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  (6/10)
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Runtime: 95 m |
| Public Rating: 6.29 (35 votes) |
Director: Kevin Smith |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy |
Year: 2001 |
| Writer(s): Kevin Smith |
| Reviewed by: Tonya Goodnow |
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When Jay and Silent Bob learn that the comic book super heroes based on them, "Bluntman" and "Chronic", are to be used in a Hollywood movie, a friend urges them to demand a piece of the action. But that plan changes once they discover just how unpopular their characters are among the internet crowd. How can they get girls if they're being insulted on internet bulletin boards for all the world to see? And that's way more important than financial gain! So they set out on a cross-country journey to Hollywood to put a stop to the making of the film.
This is truly a grab bag of a movie. It's a buddy picture, a road trip movie, a spoof of other films and, unfortunately, a showcase of Kevin Smith's favorite fellow actors. Just about everyone who's ever appeared in a Smith film makes an appearance here (it's like a low-rent Robert Altman film!). But the performances are ridiculously bad, from cameos to main characters. Jason Lee, though a competent actor, is as annoying as ever, and Ben Affleck is wooden, as usual (although he does share a particularly humorous scene with Matt Damon and Gus Van Sant). But there is truly no worse actor than Jason Mewes ("Jay"). Delivering each line as if in rehearsal for a high school play, Mewes clearly has no career outside of a Kevin Smith film.
The Jay and Silent Bob characters have always worked well, in past Smith films, as interesting supporting players that wander into a scene for a little existential comic relief. But as the focal point of a movie, they seem out of place. They're reduced to mere caricatures of themselves--a boring, one-note joke that runs it's course very quickly. Perhaps that's the reason this film was packed with so many cameos--to distract from the comic void left by placing Jay and Silent Bob at the forefront of the story.
For the most part, Smith, takes the easy path of cheap and obvious gags with this script. The result is dumb, immature and crude dialog, and a plot that is shamelessly mindless (think Saturday Night Live sketch turned movie). Had he done a little less showing off and utilized his cynical writing talent a little better, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back could have been much more satisfying. But despite how juvenile the jokes are at times, it will make you laugh. And there are just enough clever moments to keep you from having to lower your IQ too much to enjoy it.
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