Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2001 | 4:42 a.m.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Grade: Three and a half stars
Starring: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Shannon Elizabeth, Chris Rock and Ben Affleck.
Screenplay: Kevin Smith.
Director: Kevin Smith
Rated: Rated R for nonstop crude and sexual humor, pervasive strong language, and drug content.
Running time: 98 minutes.
I've only written one letter to a director. After I saw Kevin Smith's "Mallrats" on video, I sent the writer/director a congratulatory note for what many critics and fans consider to be his worst film. It was just something I felt strongly about; it was long after "Mallrats" bombed, and before "Chasing Amy" restored his critical clout.
And he wrote me back - another first. "Man, it's letters like yours that make it all worth it," he said. To me, it was a nice note, but to co-workers it was the Golden Fleece; they gathered around my desk to pay their respects.
"You get all the good mail, Carter."
"Hey, ask him when his next movie is coming out."
"You didn't really like 'Mallrats', did you? Seriously."
I did, and still do, because it didn't misrepresent itself. None of Kevin Smith's films has: "Clerks" was dialogue-rich and as coolly sharp as brain freeze from a Slurpee; "Dogma" and "Chasing Amy" handled serious subjects with dizzying comic aplomb; "Mallrats" was meant to be a teen comedy in the style of John Hughes, and so it is.
"Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is supposed to be fast, dumb and hilarious, and just five minutes into the film, one wonders why most A-list directors can't hit their targets half as well. A swan song for the title characters - omniscient in Smith's four previous films - "Strike Back" stars Jason Mewes as the motormouthed Jay and Smith himself as Silent Bob, two part-time marijuana dealers who find out that their likenesses are about to become the basis for a feature film. (Smith's previous films, particularly "Chasing Amy," explain why, but the information isn't too vital.)
Chagrined by the verbal punishment that their "characters" are receiving on the Internet, and spurred on by a restraining order that drives them away from the convenience store they've called a second home for years (see "Clerks") the odd couple sets off on a crusade to clear their name. On the way to Hollywood, they mix with a gang of comely jewel thieves, steal an ape named Suzanne, come close to beating up Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and meet the Scooby Doo Gang.
The action is punctuated by nonstop obscenities, off-color jokes, flatulence, references to popular films (Smith's and others), and cameos by every star in Hollywood that isn't nailed down. It's the get-a-letter-from-Smith factor: The director's films are so amiable, so different and so flat-out funny that actors actually petitioned Smith to make appearances. Smith is smart -- smart enough to be this dumb -- and he allows his small galaxy of stars to take his material and wrestle it to the ground. This is a true comedic free-for-all, easily the funniest film of the year.
And there's another reason I'm quoting from Smith's thank-you note instead of his new film: I don't think there's a single line of dialogue I could quote in this family paper, not a scenario I could relate without editing myself to the point of incoherence. Like Mel Brooks -- another natural comic who's just now being canonized by the same critics that haven't given him a break since "Blazing Saddles" -- Kevin Smith knows that by offending everyone, you offend no one. Perhaps he's got a musical in his future; who knows?
"Jay and Silent Bob" is a thrillingly reckless ride through Hollywood's faux-facades. If the film misses one, it backs up and flattens it down to splinters. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say that Smith is doing it to avenge "Mallrats" - and I, for one, don't blame him one bit.
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