Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back review

Kevin Smith has always fallen into the 'love him or hate him' group, and your trusty reviewer has always opted for the latter category. Personally, I found his early films (Clerks and Mallrats) unwatchable, and when he got his big studio deal with Miramax and made the trite Chasing Amy and the preposterous Dogma he was definitely on my list of directors to avoid. But there are obviously plenty of people who like this sort of thing as his last two films have grossed upwards of $30m at the American box office.

With all of my prejudices in mind, I am more than happy to admit that his latest film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, while still wallowing in a sea of retarded sexuality and dick jokes, made me laugh. Out loud, and on many occasions. Which is more than can be said for many of the recent Hollywood 'comedies' that have crossed the water. Smith's fans will love it (there are plenty of in-jokes which went straight over my head), and others, like me, who had previously rejected him to the bargain bin of geekiness, will come out with a new found respect for his ability to be so relentlessly, and often hilariously, stupid.

For anyone new to the series, Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (played by the director) are perennial favourites of Smith, having popped up in all of his films to date. To label them slackers would be a compliment: they spend their waking moments getting high outside the same convenience store, swearing (well, at least Jay does, Bob is of course mute) at each other and anyone else who passes them by. Having been immortalized by a local comic artist in the Bluntman and Chronic series of cartoons, they are smalltime, smalltown losers who believe they are actually far more famous and cool than they really are.

But when they discover that their Bluntman and Chronic alter-egos are to be made into a Hollywood film, they are furious to learn that they will get none of the profits. Hence the film's title: they embark on a trip to Tinseltown which sees them abusing a nun, hitching a ride with a set of gorgeous jewel thieves and liberating monkeys from an animal testing plant.

While some of the gags do not work, the real humour comes in Smith's relentless mocking of the moviemaking process once the duo arrive in LaLaland. Miramax (the film's backers), the internet, pretentious directors and actors (including a great self-effacing cameo from Mark Hamill) are all savagely attacked. With a swear tally that goes up to 11, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back will definitely not please the moral majority, but it might well convert some new fans to the world of this severely crazy director.

Paul Hurley