Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
For those who aren’t aware, this is Kevin Smith’s latest movie; an instalment in Smith’s “Askewniverse” and a direct sequel to
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. It’s a movie about fatherhood and a satire of the whole reboot culture which exists within modern Hollywood.
I went into this with immensely low expectations and in some ways, those expectations were met. However, what surprised me was that there were several scenes of genuine warmth. It’s a movie of two halves; one moment they’ll be a scene where the characters feel like real people, but said scenes will be immediately followed by some of the worst cringe inducing cartoonish “comedy” this side of
Epic Movie.
Seriously, some of the comedic material within this movie is beyond the pale. I don’t know how Kevin Smith can put his name to this in good conscience. The movie opens with a chicken restaurant facade named “Cock Smokers” and Kevin Smith (verging on 50, it should be noted) deemed it not only wise to use that awful pun but also to have characters laugh at said pun and proclaim “Cock Smokers! That’s funny!”. It’s not funny.
Speaking of not funny, there’s also this whole subplot involving “Hater Tots” and a scene with the KKK, who love said “Hater Tots”. Do you get it? It’s like tater tots but instead of tater, it’s hater and the KKK hate black people, so they like Hater Tots. That’s literally the extent of the joke and Kevin Smith runs that joke into the ground as though it were a veritable comedic goldmine. The worst thing that ever happened to Kevin Smith was weed (Seth Rogen inducted Kevin into regular cannabis smoking during the shoot for
Zack and Miri Make a Porno). The green haze appears to have killed his judgement of what’s good and what should never be put onscreen.
The last act of the movie is the worst part; it simply devolves into an utterly shameless self-indulgent exercise in metaphorical autofellatio. Kevin Smith plays himself. You might think this would be an opportunity for self-deprivation, but bizarrely and somewhat sickeningly, Smith instead chooses to paint himself in a positive light, with only minor jabs made at his own expense (for example, his penchant for wearing jhorts). He also contrives a scenario where he gets to cosplay as Iron Man, via his alter ego Silent Bob. Moments such as that come across as a 5 year old being given the budget to make a movie and using that money as a means of pure wish fulfilment.
I’m tempted to say that this is the worst movie which Kevin Smith has ever made, but I can’t because I’ve seen
Yoga Hosers. I think that the most frustrating thing about
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is that somewhere within, you can see a decent movie trying to get out. There are fleeting moments where the movie takes itself and the characters seriously. Moments where it stops being a cartoon and feels grounded. In these moments, Smith is able to recapture some of the old magic which made the likes of
Clerks and
Dogma such endearing yarns.
However any goodwill is quickly undone by a scene of an angry Uber driver hurling Hater Tots at the protagonists, or a cameo by Chris Hemsworth which essentially amounts to “look! I was able to rope a Hollywood star into appearing in my crappy movie!”. You’ll have those painful scenes but then you’ll have a moment such as the particularly affecting scene involving Holden from
Chasing Amy and it almost feels as though the movie is threatening to be half decent. Sadly though, the weed prevails and squanders any potential with awful puns and jokes unworthy of even a Christmas cracker.
Perhaps it’s time for Silent Bob to put down the bong.
