Guilty Pleasures
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
By Samuel Hoelker
April 7, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
That’s why he should stick to characters that are half-despicable, half-good-hearted, and are half-redeemed in the end. Dante from Clerks wasn’t a bad guy – he made some questionable, hurtful, and poorly-acted decisions, but not out of malice, and in the end has hope and a conclusion to the worst day of his life. The same goes for what’s-his-name in Mallrats (easily the most forgettable Smith film). But it’s Jay – the perpetual side character thrust into protagonism in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back – who half-asses the most and comes out with the most half-assed success.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the titular stoners from Smith’s previous films in the “Askewniverse” (named after his production company, horribly I might add) end up going on a cross-country journey to stop a movie based on a comic book on which they were the likeness from being made (obviously). By plane, train, and automobile (although just automobile) Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) travel from Leonardo, New Jersey to Hollywood to stop this movie from being made so people will stop trashing them on the Internet.
Yes, the plot is very thin.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was the first Kevin Smith movie that I saw. Everything I had read or heard about it gave the caveat of its self-referentiality. They didn’t lie: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is probably the most meta film I’ve ever seen. Yet I wasn’t a stranger to pop culture; I understood why there were two Jason Lee characters (side note: did you know that Jason Lee is a Scientologist? Strange, right?) and why they come and go. I may not have understood everything behind his “chocolate-covered pretzel” joke, but I understood that it was from something else and, truthfully, it was still funny (after having seen Mallrats, I have to say that I think that joke in JASBSB is funnier without knowing what it’s referencing). Either people were defending their lack of humor by claiming this film as impenetrable or they actually had a hard time following the film. You can’t have a hard time following this film.
This is something that I think is part of the genius (yes, genius) of Kevin Smith. He began his career making a movie basically by his friends, for his friends, and all of his films wind up having that small, insider quality. Despite its mass appeal to slackers everywhere, it was basically for Smith’s own edification. His subsequent films go further out of the Leonardo, New Jersey bubble but retain its guys-telling-jokes-to-each-other quality (which is hard to do right – see Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups for the polar opposite). Of course, the jokes are now a long way away from learning about snowballing, but even as Jay and Silent Bob make their mark on Hollywood, the feeling remains. Creating a film universe is hard, and creating a successful one is even harder.
Something that Kevin Smith also does well, and that shows best in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, is his inclusion of cameos. While his group of friends (what would they be called? “Scat pack,” based on the aforementioned “chocolate-covered pretzel” line?) has grown and become larger and more famous, not only have they stuck with him (Affleck plays two characters in JASBSB itself) but they have brought about more celebrities, outside of the Askewniverse comfort zone. No one could have thought that both Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher would be involved with Kevin Smith when Clerks came out (hell, I’m still surprised that Stan Lee was in Mallrats, but I guess he loves his cameos as much as Ron Jeremy), but both work well in both character and self-referential mockings. Smith’s clout has grown substantially since Clerks debuted.
It’s a little sad to see Smith start to go down the drain after JASBSB. While Jersey Girl was an admirable attempt (and at least George Carlin stuck around) that Clerks II and (in my opinion) Zack and Miri Make a Porno was thankfully able to save, his recent childish media antics and expensive Red State pre-screenings (really, are people actually willing to pay $80 to see an assuredly mediocre-at-best Red State six months before its release?) are starting to show that perhaps he’s getting long-in-the-tooth. Maybe he’s beginning to spiral into insanity, and not the media-friendly Charlie Sheen type. And he’s certainly not crazy in the awesome Werner Herzog way.
Regardless of whether Smith “pushes his boundaries” with surefire crap like Red State in the future or decides to stick with what he knows best – sex jokes – we can always remember him for, more or less, creating the world of successful independent comedy. Nothing proves that success better than Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. No one really can say that any other Kevin Smith film is better than that.