Meow... tsk tsk.... Meow... Sorry folks, Harry here, just communcating with a lusted one in the native sandy tongue of her beloved Skyscrapered town... hiss hiss... Anyways, I was filling her in on the interesting review below by Benjamin Lesbian, who seems to have really dug the film, but felt that the movie could use some tightening here and there... And since Kevin Smith told the audience he planned on clipping an additional dime out of the film... well, seems like we'll be left with some high grade stuff when he's done... There are some spoilers, but not too many... and well.... enjoy.... Meeeeow meOOOWWW...
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If you're going to go out, go out with a bang. If
Kevin Smith wants to get all of the silliness of
dick and fart jokes, pop culture references and
the connections of the Askewnaverse behind him so
he can become a more mature filmmaking, he sure
found a way to exorcise his demons. Jay & Silent
Bob Strike Back featured more dick/fart/blow
job/homosexual jokes per capita than any one of
his previous films. It also has the most
references (both self-referential and pop
culture-related) of any film. Some were funny,
like Affleck and Damon bitching about all the
crappy movies they have made and how they are
obligated to pay back a filmmaker who gave them
their start (wink, wink). Other ones were pretty
hammy and predictable, like the Scooby-Doo
parody.
It was also felt odd that they referred to the
films from within their own Askewniverse, such as
when Damon bitched to Affleck about how he forced
him into appearing in Dogma. Mallrats is even
mentioned as film. Maybe I'm reading into this
too much, but it still stuck out. While
everything was plenty funny, it also felt as
though Kevin took all the most crowd-pleasing
aspects of his film (vulgar humor, references,
catchphrases and Jay/Silent Bob) and subtracted
the realistic dialogue and storylines from the
other films. Well, maybe not Mallrats, which had
that Hughesian charm that Kevin wanted it too.
Maybe that's why I felt J&SBSB is more akin to
Mallrats than any other film in the series. Like
my brother-in-law said when the flick was over,
"it was like a typical Kevin Smith film, just not
as cerebral." Not that there's anything wrong
with that. I really liked it and felt that the
flick was Kevin Smith's version of a mindless
comedy/parody, a la Scary Movie/Airplane, just
like the Clerks cartoon series was his version of
The Simpsons and Mallrats was his version of
Sixteen Candles or Pretty in Pink.
Anyway, like Kevin had said, the people giving
out the passes weren't telling people what the
film was that was being screened. However, if you
were a crafty person - such as myself - you had
heard that Viewaskew/Miramax was going to be
running a test screening of the flick in the area
and happened to be in the right place at the
right time, you could get a pass to the flick. Lo
and behold, as I was leaving my summer school
class on Monday, a woman was standing outside my
class building asking people if the wanted to see
"a movie." If you said yes, she showed you a
small card with a list of films on it such as
American Pie, There's Something About Mary, Road
Trip, Scary Movie and Dogma. If you liked those
types of movies and wanted to go to the
screening, you got a pass and were told to go to
the Arizona Mills Mall on Wednesday at 6:30pm.
The pass said they were looking for people aged
17 to 34.
So as Kevin said, it was sort of a "cold
screening," where people did not know what movie
they were seeing, but they apparently knew who
their audience was going to be and tried to get
as many of them as possible. When we got to the
theatre, we waited in line and were given
another small card asking us if we connected to
the media and if we posted info on movies on the
Internet. I of course said no. There was a small
disclaimer saying we couldn't reveal any info on
the movie, but we didn't have to sign it, which I
didn't. Once inside, we were kept waiting while
they tried to fill as many seats as possible.
Based on the list of films they asked us about,
people were thinking we were seeing Scary Movie
2, but I held on to my faith. After they
announced the film and the screams went up, some
people were clueless about the film and said
things like, "Jay and Silent Who?"
The temp-credits that they said were tacked onto
the film consisted of "View Askew Productions
Presents" in the same font used on the Internet
trailer and then the Empire-esque logo we've seen
on the website and such. While I'm sure this will
make it into the final cut (as it was
CGI-rendered), there might be some last-minute
objection by Lucasfilm or something.
Sighting of Viewaskew Regular: John Willyung
(Kevin's cousin/Cohee Lundin in Chasing
Amy/Dante's killer in Clerks) plays a rude Quick
Stop store patron in the 70's flashback.
The opening scene in present day with Dante and
Randall behind the counter still was funny, but
the interaction between the two seemed threadbare
it felt had seen and heard their jokes before in
both Clerks and the cartoon series. It's also odd
that there is no mention in the flick of the
events in Dogma, save for when Jay refers to God
as a 'she.' It's almost as if the flick never
happened. Alanis Morrisette/God is also nowhere
to be found in the flick. She must have been cut
out as she is listed on the IMDB. Also MIA is
Judd Nelson and Adam Corrola.
Sighting of Viewaskew Regular #2: Ernie O'Donnell
(Rick Derris in Clerks) plays the cop who hauls
Jay and Silent Bob away for dealing in front of
the store.
When we see Brodie in his new Secret Stash, he
also uses his well-worn catchphrase that's seen
in the trailer and after six years, is still
wearing the same outfit. For the temp sound mix
for this version of the film, there were a few
placeholder songs from other Viewaskew films,
such as using Sponge's Seventeen from Mallrats
for Brodie's scene in the Stash. In the next
where, Jay & Silent Bob meet Holden, the opening
song from Chasing Amy plays. The score that's
used in the trailer was used at several points
throughout the film, particularly in the action
scenes. I'm assuming that these will all be
replaced with the actual score and soundtrack.
Probably, the only song that was used in this
temp sound mix that will probably make it into
the final cut is Prince's The Most Beautiful Girl
in the World, which was used when we see Shannon
Elizabeth.
The film was 102 minutes long and Kevin said he
will be chopping off 10 more minutes, and boy was
it needed in some parts. At the end of Brodie's
appearance, him and Jay do some kind of weird
air-guitar type pantomime. There are also dead
parts in the middle, such as when Marshall
Willoughby does the "hard target search" speech
from the Fugitive (one of many parts involving
the character which drag down the film). Speaking
of that film, there are also several other
references to that, as well the requisite Star
Wars mention, where Jay and Silent Bob engage in
a lightsabre duel with Mark Hamill (using a
double-bladed bongsabre of all things).
I can't wait to see what the final version looks
like!
Benjamin Lesbian
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