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A Movie For the Fans, a Review For the Maker

© Lisa Marie Cramer

First, let me warn you, this will not be an impartial film review. What you are about to read is merely my first opportunity as a film reviewer to express my adoration for writer/director Kevin Smith.

JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK tells the story of Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (played by Smith) and their quest to stop a movie being made about them. Jay and Silent Bob have made cameos and had supporting roles in Smith’s other four films. We first met the duo in CLERKS. Jay talks trash, makes vulgar remarks and gestures, and steals from the convenience store he deals drugs in front of. Silent Bob is the muscle and the very effective Greek chorus. He speaks only when it matters. In MALLRATS the drug-dealing duo meet up with two lovelorn guys in a mall. Silent Bob gives CHASING AMY it’s moniker with his tale of Amy, the girl he let go. And finally, in Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob play two unlikely prophets trying to help save the world from destruction.

In JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK the two visit their friend Brodie (Jason Lee playing his role from MALLRATS) who owns a comic book store. Brodie informs them that Banky (Jason Lee’s character in CHASING AMY) and Holden (Ben Affleck’s character in CHASING AMY) are making a Bluntman and Chronic movie. Bluntman and Chronic is a fictional comic book about Jay and Silent Bob as pot smoking superheroes. Incensed that they have not received a check paying them off for likeness rights they seek out Holden only to find that he has sold his half of the comic to Banky. But this is where Jay and Bob’s priorities change. Holden shows them the negative things people on the Internet have been saying about the comic book and upcoming movie and they take it personally. And so the road trip begins, with Jay and Bob travelling from New Jersey to Hollywood in hopes to stop the movie from getting made.

Along the way they meet up with some interesting characters. George Carlin (who played Cardinal Glick in DOGMA) is a hitchhiker who gives them pointers on getting rides. Carrie Fischer (she of STAR WARS fame) as a nun who picks them up. Will Farrell (Saturday Night Live) as a Federal Wildlife Marshal who confuses them with terrorists. And C.L.I.T., a band of five women international jewel thieves. Making up the squad is Ali Larter (FINAL DESTINATION), Eliza Dukshu (Faith from the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Smith’s own wife Jennifer Schwalbach, and Shannon Elizabeth (best known for her short but naked role in AMERICAN PIE). Shannon plays a nieve girl who falls in love with Jay.