Jay, Silent Bob return with a bang

KEVIN Smith never ceases to amaze.

While the slacker or stoner movies are arguably in an underrated genre, it goes without saying that Smith has mastered the art of making such movies.

His greatest creations, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith), make a triumphant cinematic return.

Having made their debut in the 1994 hit “Clerks”, the two characters have gone from a once-off cameo appearance to cult status. They form the benchmark of Smith’s cinematic universe, which is aptly named “View Askewniverse”.

Since “Clerks”, the foul mouthed duo have appeared in “Mallrats”, “Chasing Amy” and “Dogma”.

They also formed the titular characters in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and the more recent “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot”.

“Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” is essentially a remake of the 2001 cult classic “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”. Much like its predecessor, it follows the duo as they make the great trek from Leonard, New Jersey, to Hollywood in an attempt to stop the production of the movie “Blunt Man and Chronic”.

The movie is loosely based on the comic book “Blunt Man and Chronic”.

lt follows its predecessor’s plotlines, dialogue and cameo appearances. The only difference between the two is that rather than fall in love, Jay discovers that he has a child, Millennium “Milly” Faulken (played by Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith).

This plot thread adds a little levity to what could have been a boring re-thread of an old movie.

There are a few points that make this movie watchable.

First, this is a silly movie and Smith makes no effort to hide that fact. If you thought the jokes, gags and slapstick humour from the first movie were childish and crude, then expect more of the same.

There is also a lot of fourth wall breaking. In one instance, three key characters actually face the screen and acknowledge the similarities between this movie and its predecessor.

The same goes for the performances in which a couple of actors, Harley Quinn Smith for instance, could be said are guilty of over-acting.

Jason Mewes and Smith do a stellar job in their portrayal of the Jay and Silent Bob characters.

Homage is paid to some of Smith’s earlier works, with the likes of Matt Damon reprising his Loki character from “Dogma”. The cast from “Clerks” and “Mallrats” all make appearances.

This is on top of the usual Jay and Silent Bob cameo appearances with the likes of Jason Biggs, Ben Affleck, Shannon Elizabeth and Jason Lee all popping up during the 105 minutes runtime.

Special mention goes to how Smith pays homage to the stone comedy genre, bringing in Redman and Method as their “How High” characters, Justin Long reprising his role from the Zack and Miri movie, and Tommy Chong the godfather of said genre.

However, the film’s biggest strength and the one thing that separates it from its predecessor is that underneath all that mayhem, weed jokes and crude humour, is a little heart and levity to the story.

Smith tries and succeeds in giving a commentary on Hollywood’s supposed failure to evolve and simply re-tread old movies and movie material all in search of wealth. Over the years, we have been bombarded by numerous remakes, reboots and “sequels and prequel” of old successful movies, most of which ruin the allure of the original and it is a sickness that needs to stop.

It is a point and dialogue numerous characters actually make in the movie, more often disguised as debates of the differences between reboots and remakes. Also, unlike its predecessor, this reboot actually attempts at telling a story as Mewes’ Jay character finds out he has a daughter he never knew he had and gets embroiled in an inner debate on what the logical next step is and how he fits into her life now.

Overall, these aforementioned points help make this one of the standout hits of Smith’s career, and hopefully this effort will be made to the follow ups to “Mallrats” and “Clerks” which Smith has been rumoured to be working on for years.