Jay & Silent Bob Strike Again

Scott Hardie | March 12, 2002
I saw "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" tonight on the recommendations of a few people - Matt, Eddie, Dave, Bill, and more. I wasn't really expecting it to be good, since I generally dislike Kevin Smith movies, and the two main characters are rarely funny, but I was surprised by how bad it was.

My theory is that Kevin Smith is good when he's got something to attack, some wall to bounce his jokes off of. He was best (imo) in "Chasing Amy" when he was satirizing comic book fans and Star Wars fans, and in "Dogma" when he was satirizing the Catholic church and its varied enemies. There are numerous good jokes, and a few great jokes, in this film, all when he's attacking something in some way. Whether he's satirizing Hollywood, spoofing recent movies, or making fun of his own characters, Smith can be funny.

But he fails miserably when he lacks such a target. So much of the movie is forced humor that involves not just idiots, but clichéd idiots, marching their way through terrible jokes that Mike Myers botched ten years earlier in "Wayne's World." Is this movie targeted for thirteen-year-olds? That's how old I felt while watching it. There's really not much scatological humor, at least not as blatant as it is in most comedies these days; it's just that the worldview is frozen at that level. There's a scene where Shannon Elizabeth comes strutting into a restaurant in slow motion and Jay instantly falls in love with her (think Tia Carrere and "Dream Weaver"), and I can't imagine that scene working for anyone over that age.

And fucking Will Farrell. I'm sorry, this man is not fucking funny. I told Matt that a director could have a scene with Osama bin Laden burning an American flag, then putting it out with his own piss, and it would be funnier than Will Farrell.

The DVD is nothing special. 47 deleted scenes sounds great until you realize that each one is 1-2 lines of dialogue. For every single deleted scene, Kevin Smith gives an introduction, and he can't fucking shut up. Kelly and I picked one at random, listened to Smith introduce the scene for 1:54, then watched the 0:08 scene. Other DVDs let you turn on/off the director's introductions; this one could have benefitted from that option.

Mark Hamill's scene is very funny. True, he's fallen a long way, but he can still deliver a line, and he's gotten almost as good as Adam West at making fun of himself. The scene would be best if it didn't say "MARK HAMILL!" on the screen when he appeared, but maybe I'm asking too much.

I've always wanted to meet somebody who was in a movie, and now I have. Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada has a quick cameo as the pizza delivery guy (the box says "Marvel Pizza"). I met him ten years ago when he was the artist for "X-Factor." Really great guy, struck me by how polite he was, but how that loser ever made it to the top, I have no idea. Kind of like Jason Scott Lee.

Anna Gregoline | March 12, 2002
I watched it last Friday, and I was just as disappointed. The only thing I laughed at was Will Farrell saying, "Fair enough!" near the end. I thought at least Will Farrell would make me laugh, but even he fell short.

Scott Hardie | March 12, 2002
I do give Farrell credit for improvisation. In the gag reel on the DVD, there's a series of different takes of that particular scene. Jason Lee says "Despite what you may have heard, I do not kiss guys," and Will Farrell has five or six different responses, all funny. I don't know if they were his, but they do seem improvised to me. So he gets my vote there.