Better Never Than Late on "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot"

When I was younger I loved Kevin Smith's movies. That has never really changed for me. But as I have gotten older, his newer stuff has kind of fallen by the wayside. Growing up I adored "Clerks", "Dogma", "Chasing Amy" and "Mallrats". I would list those as some of my favorite movies. I never watched "Jersey Girl". I wanted to see "Cop Out", but it got awful reviews. I was always curious about his Superman movie that was possibly in the works in the late 90's/early 2000's. I even went to see "Clerks 2" when it came out in the theaters. But one movie that I unequivocally liked, and never deemed a "guilty pleasure", was "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back".

This movie was endlessly quotable for me. I used to watch it over and over again. I loved all the cameos and how funny I thought it  was at the time. Besides "Clerks" and "Dogma", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" was third in line as my favorite Kevin Smith movie.

Kevin Smith grew up and started making different stuff. I get it, he wanted to try his hand at different things. I remember seeing "Tusk" and being grossed out, but interested. I never saw "Yoga Hosers", but some people I know who saw it said it was scary and funny. He had a role in the criminally underrated and bizarre "Southland Tales". He has tried to branch out, but it hasn't been the stuff I grew to like from him. And that is all well and good. People get older, have kids and want to try something else. I totally get it.

The other day I was searching for streaming movies and came upon the "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot". This definitely piqued my interest. As I said before, I adore the first movie about these two characters, I have always liked the Jay and Silent Bob dynamic, and I figured it would be a good nostalgia trip for me to watch this movie that came out in 2019.

Boy was I wrong.

This movie is bad. I hate to dump on stuff on the site here. I feel like that is all the internet is becoming now, but man oh man was this movie not good at all. It was retread joke after retread. It moved slowly and it was boring. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith are much too old to be playing these characters anymore. I yell at my podcasts that I listen to when a 50 year old says stuff like, "LET'S GO", or they call someone "unc". That was all this movie was for me. It felt like two dudes just trying to capture what worked over 25 years ago, but they just got old and this makes them look silly.

I read that Smith wanted to make something with Jay and Silent Bob because the first movie was when Mewes was at his worst with his addictions. That is all well and good and makes sense, but this was the wrong movie to make together. They did the whole thing of, "we are going to get the band back together", but it just felt hollow and like the worst kind of nostalgia grab.

Jason Lee returned, but he was playing his character from "Mallrats". Lee is far too old and far too good of an actor to act like he still lives in his mom's basement and is pining to go to the mall. Joey Lauren Adams and Ben Affleck return as Amy and Holden, which should have worked. But it was just a reason for Smith and Affleck to bury the hatchet, and talk on screen as their characters as to what makes being a parent so awesome, all the while adding dick and fart jokes. Shannon Elizabeth and Rosario Dawson return, but it is for one scene and it is all just to set up Smith's daughter, Harley Quinn, and her character. Fred Armisen and Molly Shannon are wasted in their one scene. Hell, this movie even has Johnny Bananas, who is most known for being on reality tv competition shows, just so he can say, I kid you not, "this is bananas".

I loathed this movie. It made me visibly upset. My son saw me watching the movie and he asked me why I was even watching it. I didn't have an answer for him. I understand that Smith has reached a level where he can make what he wants, and he wanted to do this movie after his heart attack. I understand that he wanted to make amends with some people close to him. This movie was well intentioned on paper, but man was it really, really bad on screen. They tried to tell a story of growing older and becoming a parent, but Jay and Silent Bob never actually grew up. They were still telling the same tired jokes and it frustrated me.

Smith's prime is past him and it bums me out to say that. I think maybe he should continue to make low budget horror movies. If this was his attempt to return to the top and make these characters important again, he badly missed the mark. I watched this movie so now you don't have to. Skip this one. Save yourself the time. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

A Revisit to "Clerks" is Well Worth It

Over the weekend I made another trip to the Arkadin to see another classic movie, "Clerks". This was no theme night or Strange Brew or anything like that, this was just a showing of "Clerks".

I have been a fan of this movie since the first moment I saw it over 25 years ago. When I first saw it it was unlike anything else I had seen to that point. This movie, again I was 17 years old, was so poignant and profound to me. I would end up watching a bunch between the ages of 17 and 25 or so. It was a movie I would show to friends, I had family members watch it over and over again and I would watch it on my own a ton. Then it kind of slipped through the cracks for me and I moved on to other Kevin Smith movies.

Recently I went back and watched "Mallrats". I had heard someone talk about it on a podcast and that made me want to revisit. While not a great movie by any means, it still held up for me. I was able to look past some problematic language in the movie and I was able to go back to being younger and let myself get very involved in "Mallrats". "Clerks" is such a better movie, in my opinion, though. I was so happy on this rewatch, again, almost 20 years from the last time I saw it, that it still held up. I was laughing harder than I did before. I had never seen it with a true movie theater crowd, and that added a whole other layer for me. I was around other people that like this content as much as I do. We all laughed at all the funny parts. We knew what was coming but it didn't matter. It still hit us all the same. And the writing, I was kind of shocked that it still held up so well. I have seen this movie at different points in my life and this time, with 42 year old eyes and ears, I had a different take. I found Dante to be whiny and egotistical. Brian O'Halloran played this role to perfection. When I was younger I used to side with him. I felt he was just unlucky in love and wanted something better. This time around, I was all about Randal, played perfectly by Jeff Anderson. He knew his lot in life and accepted it. He held no grudges against anyone but the customers. He told Dante off when he needed and sided with him when needed. He was always there for him, but he would give him the business too. And I understand that there are other actors in this movie, but this is all about Dante and Randal. It is their journey through an insane day at work. And Kevin Smith and his writing staff absolutely nailed it.

I couldn't like this movie more than I do now. I feel like I understand it so much better now. And I highly recommend that you rewatch it if you haven't seen it in a long time or if you've never seen it and want to know what all the fuss is about. It is so well written and acted by, at the time, non actors. And if you are between the ages of 18-50, this movie will ring true for you. "Clerks", for me, is a true classic. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.