Cast: Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Shannon Elizabeth , Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter, Will Ferrell, Ben Affleck, Jason Lee
Director: Kevin Smith
Producers: Scott Mosier
Screenplay: Kevin Smith
Cinematography: Jamie Anderson
Music: James L. Venable
U.S. Distributor: Dimension Films
After the mixed critical and popular reaction received by his pretentious Dogma, writer/director/actor Kevin Smith has returned to his lowbrow roots for the final chapter in his five-part "New Jersey Trilogy" - lewd, profane, bodily function-oriented comedy. Unfortunately, while the content is no less potentially offensive or crude than anything offered in Smith's debut, Clerks, the writing isn't as sharp and the jokes aren't as consistently hilarious. There are times when Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back offers from-the-belly guffaws, but, in comparison with Smith at his ribald best, too much of this movie seems like a pale imitation.
There are perhaps a number of reasons why Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back doesn't strike the funny bone as often as expected. Although Smith seems to be aiming for a "Clerksish" approach, the result is closer to his sophomore entry, Mallrats. He's trying to do a genre picture (in this case, a road movie), but doesn't recognize that his particular strengths (snappy dialogue) aren't the best fit for that sort of film. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is at its best when it deviates from the expected rhythms. The parodies are on target, and, if not brilliant, at least very funny, and there are times when the character interaction contains some zingers. Unfortunately, there are also numerous dead spots, including an ill-advised, momentum-killing jewel heist.
It's worthwhile to question the shock value of Smith's profanity-laced dialogue. When Clerks was distributed in 1994, the vulgar screenplay, which was liberally seasoned with four-letter words, initially earned the movie an NC-17 (which was overturned on appeal). Since then, however, the kind of comedy offered by Clerks, which was fresh at the time, has been imitated in productions ranging from There's Something About Mary to American Pie. There are times when Smith doesn't seem to realize that it's the content of the dialogue, not the number of references to oral sex, that create the humor. Clerks and Chasing Amy understood this; Jay and Silent Bob, much like Mallrats, is unsure.
Then there are the protagonists to consider. Jay and Silent Bob are both well-known to anyone who has followed Smith's View Askew adventures. They are the only characters to have appeared in all five of Smith's films. In the first four, they were secondary characters, often functioning as a kind of Greek Chorus. Suddenly, they're front and center, and we find that they aren't interesting enough to sustain a movie - even one as feather-light as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. These two are one-joke caricatures, and we've already been exposed to the punchline on four previous occasions. While Bob's stoic silence and Jay's repeated, sex-obsessed diatribes are fun for a few minutes per film, they quickly grow tiresome when we're inundated by them for any length of time. At his best (Clerks, Chasing Amy, even Dogma), Smith presents us with characters worth caring about. In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, there's no one. Furthermore, to complicate matters, there are so many cameos (virtually every character from the other films makes an appearance), it's sometimes difficult to keep track of who's who. Die-hards will probably be delighted to see Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) and Hooper X (Dwight Ewell) again, but this cinematic equivalent of name-dropping risks alienating casual film-goers who will not get all the in-jokes.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, like many road pictures, has virtually no plot. Our two intrepid heroes (played, as always, by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith), leave their beloved state of New Jersey for Hollywood when they learn that a movie is going to be made about their comic book alter-egos, Bluntman and Chronic. Since they're not getting a cut of the rights money paid to Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), they have decided to ruin the production. First, however, they have to make the cross-country journey - a process that is difficult because they have no money. Along the way, they encounter a number of interesting individuals, including a hitchhiker (George Carlin) who offers some surprising advice, a nun (Carrie Fisher) who lives her life by the Good Book, and four jewel thieves (Shannon Elizabeth, Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter, and Jennifer Schwalbach- a.k.a Mrs. Kevin Smith) who introduce Jay and Silent Bob to the power of the C.L.I.T. And, when they are mistaken for criminals, the dynamically stoned duo are pursued by Federal Wildlife Marshall Wilenholly (Will Ferrell), who always gets his man.
There are things that make Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back worthwhile. First and foremost are the parodies. These include, but are not limited to, the TV shows "Dawson's Creek" and "Scooby Doo", and the movies Planet of the Apes (the end scene of the original is faithfully re-created), Good Will Hunting (we see director Gus Van Sant greedily counting piles of money as the sequel goes into production), and American Pie (Jason Biggs, one of three Pie actors to appear in this production, bemoans what having sex with a pie has done to his career). TV news entertainment programs are also roasted, as is Miramax Films (the studio that bankrolled the most recent three Smith films). Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, James Van Der Beek, Jason Biggs, and Shanon Doherty absorb good-natured pokes at their off-screen images. And Mark Hamill participates in a light saber duel in which he's more like Darth Vader than Luke Skywalker.
For all of that, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is still uneven, and likely only to satisfy the Faithful. Others will find it sporadically amusing, but not worth the full price of admission. Of all the raunchy comedies and obligatory sequels coming out this summer, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back ranks somewhere near the top, but that's not saying much. The bottom line is that, while Smith remains capable of penning funny material, his font of originality is drying up, at least in this arena. According to Smith, this will be the last appearance of Jay and Silent Bob, which is a good thing. If the Red Bank, New Jersey native is to grow as a writer and director (the latter being an area where he desperately needs development), he needs to branch out in other directions.
So, with mixed feelings, we leave behind the "New Jersey Trilogy" (which somehow gained two extra parts beyond the expected three). And, while Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back represents a decidedly mixed bag, at least it's not bad enough that it would have been more appropriately titled Jay and Silent Bob Strike Out.
© 2001 James Berardinelli