Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)
Starring Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Will Ferrell, Shannon Elizabeth, Seann William Scott, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck.
Directed by Kevin Smith.
Rated R.
Grade: D+
"Come on, Silent Bob! We're going to Hollywood."
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a dumb movie disguised in a smarmy interior. Kevin Smith, coming off the wonderful, challenging Dogma, fills it with sub-Road Trip gross-out jokes and expects us to buy it because he's just oh-so-ironic. But when a movie is so self-aware it becomes about nothing but itself, we can hardly be expected to pay for admission.
Jay and Silent Bob, two New Jersey stoners who hang out at the doorstep of convenience store selling pot, have appeared in almost all of Smith's movies but, if I'm not mistaken, have not starred in one until now. They find out that there is a movie based on the comic book that is based on them being made in Hollywood. This presents two problems: a) they haven't received a penny in royalties and b) nerds on the internet ("What's the internet?") are talking trash about them. What is there to do except go to Hollywood and stop this movie from being made?
On the way -- they're hitchhiking, because who knew you needed tickets to take a bus? -- they run into a group of hotties who pretend to be with an animal-rights group, but are really jewel thiefs who parade around in Charlie's Angels-style outfits. Of course, they set Jay and Silent Bob up to look like the thieves, so that there is a massive manhunt going on during the second half of the film. Will Ferrell, who again proves himself incapable of doing anything but sketch comedy, shows up as the wildlife marshal inspector who thinks the two have stolen a monkey.
The movie will probably please only Smith's die-hard, undiscerning fans; everyone else will be critical of this mind-bogglingly stupid effort following some the sophisticated cinema that he churned out in years past. Any appeal the movie has will come from the "in" jokes, most of which I think I understood, but the movie is "in" to the point of absurdity. There needs to be something holding it together other than its own smugness.
Once Jay and Silent Bob get to Hollywood, the movie abruptly switches gears from gross-out comedy to ridiculously broad Hollywood satire. Countless "hot" movie stars and personalities make an appearance, from Smith veterans Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to Wes Craven, but Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back resorts to such low-brow gags as another Scream sequel with a monkey as the killer. Get it? They're so desperate for another movie, they ran out of ideas and used a monkey! A monkey!
As often happens with writers who are working below what they are actually capable of, most of the really good lines are throwaways, while the big, painstaking gags mostly fall flat. One of the funniest lines in the movie flies by: when asked to comment on the clitoris (don't ask), Jay responds: "the female clitoris?"
Kevin Smith is a talented writer (though I agree that his films would be better off if he'd let a real director take the helm), and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back holds true to his promise to make a more facetious film. Unfortunately, it's also shapeless, pointless and largely unfunny. Smith's "verbal trampoline," as Ben Affleck once called his distinctive dialogue, takes a back seat to his dubious instincts as a populist filmmaker. This was supposed to be the movie that didn't offend anyone, but it's offensive because it's terrible.