After
dabbling in the horror genre for the past few years, writer/director/star Kevin
Smith finally returns with another installment starring his two most famous creations,
Jay and Silent Bob. As far as the films
within the “View Askewniverse” go, it’s probably the weakest. That’s mostly because it hinges so much on
being a reboot of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. However, there are plenty of laughs to be
had, tons of funny cameos, and just enough tugs at the old heartstrings to make
it all worthwhile.
It
probably won’t win any new converts, but for someone like me who was a fan of
Smith’s since Clerks, it’s akin to attending a high school reunion. You get to see some folks you’ve been hoping
to see for a long time. You even get to
see some people you honestly thought you might never see again. Seeing them flourish and grow, or in some
cases, not changing one iota, you can’t help but stop a moment and take stock of where you are in your own life.
Maybe
it’s just me. Maybe I just feel this way
because I’ve grown up with these characters.
Maybe it’s because I see parts of myself in many of them. It’s hard to believe that twenty-five years
has come and gone since Clerks came out.
A lot has changed since then. A
lot hasn’t. Twenty-five years used to
sound like a long time when you were younger.
Now it feels like yesterday.
I
don’t want to get misty-eyed here. I
just want to say I’m glad to see these characters back on the big screen where
they belong. I enjoyed catching up with
them immensely.
As
for the movie itself, well… it’s awful thin.
It’s telling just how thin it is that the best moments are just
characters from Smith’s other movies reminiscing about old times and telling us what
they’ve been up to since then. The plot has
Jay and Silent Bob going to Hollywood to stop a movie from being made about
them… again. The new wrinkle in the
formula is that Jay has a daughter he never knew he had (played by Smith’s
daughter, Harley Quinn). It would be
like shooting fish in a barrel to say that she is the weak link here. Smith, sensing this, is able to head off any
such judgment by addressing it straight-on by making the theme of the movie the
passing the torch to the next generation.
He pokes enough fun at himself to know his shortcomings (there are
multiple jabs at Cop Out) while simultaneously playing to his strong suit.
I
won’t spoil the gags for you. (Although
I will say there is a great Glengarry Glen Ross homage.) I won’t spoil the cameos either. I won’t spoil the ending, although I will say
that the last scene of the movie could very well be the first scene of Clerks
3. If that is indeed the case, I think
we’ll all be happy. One thing is for sure, I can’t wait to see
all these characters again. The sooner
the better.
No comments:
Post a Comment