Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back(2001)

Kevin Smith has a large cult following, and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is a film that seems to be made almost specifically for the cult. It is packed with references to past Kevin Smith films, including reappearing characters and clever in-jokes. Even besides all that, though, it's a very funny movie.

As the title can easily lead one to believe, the story revolves around Smith's "hetero life-mates" known as Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Smith). This dynamic duo has appeared in all of Smith's films, playing possibly their biggest part in Smith's best film, "Dogma" (1999). Now they have a movie all to themselves. It begins with Jay and Silent Bob being left outside the Quick Stop convenience store by their mothers as babies (we soon realize how Jay developed his very loud, very foul mouth). This fades into a shot of Jay and Silent Bob standing in the exact same spots outside the store about twenty years later. However, this will be their last time standing in front of the Quick Stop. After years of putting up with the two drug-dealing stoners dealing pot outside the store, clerks Dante and Randal (Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, originally from 1994's "Clerks.") get a restraining order against them.

Of course, Jay and Silent Bob are devistated. They seek advice from Brodie (Jason Lee, originally from 1995's "Mallrats"), who now owns a comic book store. Brodie informs the two that the Bluntman and Chronic comic book (which Jay and Silent Bob were the basis for) is being made into a movie at Miramax Studios in Hollywood. Jay inquires, "Miramax? But I thought they just made classic pictures like 'The Piano' and 'The Crying Game.'" Brodie informs them, "Once they made 'She's All That,' eveything went to hell."

And so Jay and Silent Bob pay a visit to Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck, originally from 1997's "Chasing Amy"), the co-creator of Bluntman and Chronic, demanding their entitled profits. However, Holden has sold his half of the rights to Bluntman and Chronic to his co-creator, Banky Edwards (Jason Lee again, also from "Chasing Amy"). Holden does have a bit of regret regarding his decision, because there is much buzz about it on the internet. "The internet," Holden explains to the uninformed duo, "is a place where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with each other." He takes them to a website called "movie-poop-shoot.com" where he reads them a bunch of user comments slamming Jay and Silent Bob, some who threaten to boycott the Bluntman and Chronic movie. Alas, Jay and Silent Bob are off to Hollywood to stop this movie from getting made so people will stop posting bad things about them.

While on their journey, the duo stop into a fast food restaurant and meet Justice (Shannon Elizabeth), and her friends, Missy (Jennifer Schwalbach), Sissy (Eliza Dushku), and Chrissy (Ali Larter), who agree to give Jay and Silent Bob a ride. Justice tells the duo that her and her friends are animal rights activists who want to liberate a monkey from an animal testing facility. In reality, however, they are international jewel thieves who are only staging the monkey theft to create a diversion for their diamond theft next door to the facility. But when Jay throws their patsy, Brent (Sean William Scott), out of the van, Justice must convince Jay and Silent Bob to steal the monkey for them. They quickly agree, and everything goes as planned for the girls, concluding with the van exploding and the girls escaping in a getaway vehicle. Jay is crushed. He fell in love with Justice and now believes she is dead, and insists they keep the monkey around to "honor her memory."

And so on and so forth go the adventures and misadventures of Jay and Silent Bob. The road to Hollywood (as well as Hollywood itself) contains numerous references to past Smith films. We see Jason Lee in a dual role as Brodie from "Mallrats" (1995) and Banky from "Chasing Amy" (1997). Ben Affleck also does a dual role, playing Holden from "Chasing Amy" as well a playing himself, with Matt Damon when Jay and Silent Bob stumble onto the set of "Good Will Hunting II - Hunting Season" thinking that it's the Bluntman and Chronic movie. At the end, after the premiere of the Bluntman and Chronic movie, we see Joey Lauren Adams as her character from "Chasing Amy" ("Well, it was better than 'Mallrats.'") as well as Dwight Ewell as the gay comic book artist Hooper LaMont, also from "Chasing Amy" ("It was like watching 'Batman and Robin' all over again."). If you pay attention to this scene, you'll also catch a minor, but memorable, character from "Clerks." There are also a number of cameos, including Jason Biggs, James Van Der Beek, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven, Shannen Doherty, Mark Hamill, and even Moris Day and the Time.

Most of the jokes are funny, but a lot of them will be funnier to people who have seen the previous Kevin Smith films. Some of the jokes won't even make sense to those not familiar with Smith's work. So I would recommend seeing at least three of the previous Smith releases before viewing "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" (there's only one joke invovling 1999's "Dogma," and you don't really need to see the film to get it). The bottom line is that "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is a very funny movie, but much funnier if you're a Smith fan.

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