Movie Review: Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot ** / *****

Directed by: Kevin Smith.

Written by: Kevin Smith.

Starring: Jason Mewes (Jay), Kevin Smith (Silent Bob / Kevin Smith), Harley Quinn Smith (Milly), Aparna Brielle (Jihad), Alice Wen (Shan Yu), Treshelle Edmond (Soapy), Chris Hemsworth (Chris Hemsworth), Val Kilmer (Reboot Bluntman), Matt Damon (Loki), Ben Affleck (Holden McNeil), Rosario Dawson (Reggie Faulken), Melissa Benoist (Reboot Chronic), Joe Manganiello (Bailiff), Shannon Elizabeth (Justice), Justin Long (Brandon St. Randy (Lawyer), Kate Micucci (Mooby's Employee), Jason Lee (Brodie Bruce), David Dastmalchian (Nervous Cop), Joey Lauren Adams (Alyssa Jones), Diedrich Bader (Con Security Guard), Craig Robinson (Judge Jerry N. Executioner), James Van Der Beek (James Van Der Beek), Jason Biggs (Jason Biggs), Frankie Shaw (Prosecutor), Fred Armisen (Uber driver), Molly Shannon (Joline), Keith Coogan (Keith Coogan), Tommy Chong (Alfred), Mickey Gooch Jr. (Holly Roller), Chris Jericho (Klan Leader), Brian O'Halloran (Dante Hicks), Jennifer Schwalbach Smith (Miss McKenzie Mooby's Manager), Method Man (Himself), Redman (Himself), Donnell Rawlings (Captain), Ralph Garman (Ted Underhill).

 

As we end another decade, I think back to 20 years ago, when I read an article about the crop of young filmmakers that emerged in the 1990s, and who is most likely to become the next Martin Scorsese – not necessarily in having the same vision as Scorsese, but in becoming that universally respected and admired filmmaker. The usual suspects you would expect to see were on the list – Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, etc. – and another name was on it as well – Kevin Smith. 20 years later, that may sound absurd – but it didn’t at the time. Smith had become a DIY filmmaking hero with Clerks – which was not just a great DIY movie, but a great movie itself. He had gone to the studio after, with Mallrats, and had a bad experience – returned to a lower budget for Chasing Amy – still his best film, even if some of the critiques of it are valid, and then made his most ambitious film to date with Dogma. Smith seemed poised to become one of the major filmmakers of his generation. 20 years later, I think it’s fair to say that it didn’t happen that way – Smith returned to his comfort zone for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, tried to mature a little with Jersey Girl, then returned to his comfort zone with Clerks II, tried to do a kind of Judd Apatow film with Zack and Miri Make a Porno, tried out the director-for-hire thing with Cop Out, tried to reinvent himself as a horror movie filmmaker with Red State, and then kind of settled into a strange place of doing podcasts and speaking engagements, and occasionally making some strange horror/comedy hybrids like Tusk and Yoga Hosers – the latter of which is the one Smith film I have never see (and I’m not even sure I ever had a chance to see if I wanted – it’s currently not available on any streaming platform in Canada I have access to). And now, once again, Smith has returned to his comfort zone with Jay and Silent Bob Reboot – which essentially has the same plot as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but with an even more star studded cast, and clearly a lot less money to spend. It is, undoubtedly, the least ambitious thing Smith could do as a filmmaker after all these years.

 

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is, in short, a very lazy film in which Smith reunites yet again with Jason Mewes, and the two play their famous Jay and Silent Bob characters. They discover, once again, that Hollywood is going to make another Bluntman and Chronic movie, and once again, they hit the road to Hollywood to try and stop it. This time, though, when they reach Chicago, and Jay reunites with his long lost girlfriend Justice (Shannon Elizabeth), he discovers he has a daughter – now 18 – named Millie, and played by Smith’s real life daughter Harley Smith. So instead of the four cat suit wearing diamond thieves that travelled to California with them in the other movie, Jay now travels with his daughter, and her diverse friend group – although he doesn’t reveal who he really is to Millie.

 

As is the case with many Smith movies, the movie is a series of self-aware jokes, and cameos by famous actors, some playing characters they’ve played for Smith in the past, some playing all new characters. With this much talent on display in front of the camera, it’s hard to say that the movie has no charm or now laughs – it does – but it really does feel like Smith made this movie as an excuse to hang out with all his buddies again, and churn something out to make some money. Including a bunch of self-aware jokes about how lazy reboots are doesn’t make this one any less lazy – hell, Fuller House has jokes about how lazy reboots are, so Smith wins no points from me on that front.

 

Clearly Smith has made this movie for himself – and for his ever loyal fan base, who has allowed his to coast on his success from the 1990s, with continued support throughout the years. Die hards of Smith – the target audience – will likely feel that they got their money’s worth here – an excuse to sink back into their comfort zone in a movie that does challenge them in any way, and basically repeats what Smith has done before – and better. For someone like me – who really was a huge fan of Smith back in the 1990s (admittedly, as someone who was 13 when Clerks came out, I was in the perfect demographic for Smith’s humor) every new Smith film just serves to remind me that I really do think Smith could have become a great filmmaker. It was there in those early films – and once in a while, it’s there in the later films – I liked Clerks II more than most, thought that had he continued down the path started by Red State he could have become an excellent horror filmmaker, etc. As a fan of Smith’s, but not one of his diehards, it’s hard to be disappointed that this is where everything led to.

 

And yet, in a scene late in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Smith kind of answers why this happened as Jay and Silent Bob talked to Holden (Ben Affleck) from Chasing Amy – who basically what describes what being a father means to him, and he can assume, what it means to Smith. That the youthful ambition he felt has faded since becoming a father – and wanting what his best for his kid. And to be fair, Smith really does seem happy – he seems like he is enjoying his life, his marriage, his kid, his career and everything he does. So maybe we can acknowledge that it really does seem like Smith has won at life – because if being happy isn’t the meaning of life, then I don’t know what it. It wasn’t what was best for his career as a filmmaker clearly – but hey, if it works for him, go for it. Personally though, I never felt more checked out as a Kevin Smith fan.