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by Jennifer Alpeche Published: June 25, 2003
Director Kevin Smith’s next film will be “Jersey Girl”, and will star a familiar View Askew face in Ben Affleck, along with Jennifer Lopez and the real Jersey Girl of the film, Raquel Castro. I read that the film was set to be released this Winter, but the studios have pushed it to next year, to some time in February. (This can’t be good.) At any rate, Kevin Smith and Ben Affleck seem to have a good relationship, establishing their friendship through creative endeavors and remaining close even after the latter has hit it big and the former is still not at all mainstream (and I doubt ever will be). If anything, I think it’s something positive that stars like Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Jason Lee still remember where they came from, and that price tags should never cloud the knowing of something good. Kevin Smith writes good dialogue and that seems to be one reason why his friends continue to support him. That, and the fact that well, they’re friends. So let’s rewind back to 1997, to a time when Ben Affleck was seriously NOT the “Sexiest Man Alive” (and is he really? Over Jude Law?). To when he hadn’t made the awful: the “Armageddon,” the “Pearl Harbor.” To when he was best known as being Matt Damon’s friend. In “Chasing Amy,” Ben plays Holden McNeil, a comic-book artist who, with best friend Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), has created “Bluntman & Chronic,” a comic book about two superheroes based on the likenesses of Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith respectively). The film opens up at a comic-book convention, and it is here that Holden meets fellow artist Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), creator of “Idiosyncratic Routine” and the girl who will turn his world upside down. “Chasing Amy” is a love story, but not a predictable romantic comedy, not a typical triangle about three attractive people. In a way, it does follow a formula: boy meets girl; boy digs girl; girl likes boy. But that’s where it stops because in this plot, the twist is that the girl also likes girls, and therein lies the problem. Holden falls for the unattainable. The unattainable that is, until he convinces her that they are meant to be. All the while, best-friend Banky is none too pleased. He isn’t supportive of them at all, disliking Alyssa almost from the start. So when Holden and Alyssa hit a major bump in the road, he’s all smiles. The love story takes another turn when it turns out that Alyssa used to date guys. A lot of guys, and it is this fact that Holden cannot handle. He can’t get past her past -- the past before her most recent one -- and this tears them apart. His suspicions of her and his blaming her for something that she had moved on from (had tried to put behind her), and his insistence in bringing it up, is what wedges them apart. His solution to their problem is not only insulting to her, but reveals him to be narrow and insensitive. For me, Holden’s character really spiraled by the end of the film, and even after watching it many times, I still shake my head at what he suggests and though happy, like Alyssa is, that he finally grows up by the final scene and realizes his mistake, there’s still that knowing that it came too late. The third and final installment of the The New Jersey Trilogy, “Chasing Amy” is a funny and surprisingly touching movie that turns out to be very different from what one may expect. From the trailer (which is included on this DVD) for instance, one would think that Banky is the reason why Holden and Alyssa get together, and that there’s a very conventional happy ending awaiting us. Kevin Smith however, isn’t one for such stories and his dialogue isn't the stuff of romantic comedies. It's graphic. At times offensive. And does take some getting used to. Luckily with DVD, you can skip forward to favorite parts. The DVD for “Chasing Amy” is actually a reprint of the Criterion Collection laser disc. In his introduction to the disc, Smith talks for about three minutes on why there is now a Criterion-edition DVD for “Chasing Amy” and explains away a comment he made about the DVD format, which can be heard at the start of the film’s commentary track. Speaking in his usual dry, almost-bored way, Smith invites us to enjoy, and we do. The commentary (with Kevin Smith, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes, and Scott Moser) offers insight into how the low-budget film was made, and does as one might expect, veer off on a tangent once in a while, but for the most part, it stays relevant to what is happening on the screen -- from why Ben Affleck dances in that bar scene to why he looks thinner in one shot (“Armageddon”) to how real-life drama affected the script and the film’s concept. It also brings up the test screenings and how the audience reaction to Holden, Alyssa, and Banky changed from the beginning of the film to the end. This I especially found interesting because I had a similar reaction. Also included on the disc are 10 deleted scenes titled by memorable lines, such as “Tell ‘em Steve-Dave!” and “Money and Power.” Each is preceded by an introduction by a combination of two or more View Askew people (Smith, Affleck, Mewes, or Moser), with special appearance by the Criterion producer. There’s also about 5 minutes of outtakes, which lend further support to how much fun these people, these friends, have together. Everyone seems to on the same page, in on the jokes, and remaining tolerant of one another even while losing precious time as the tape continues to roll. To round out the DVD, we get the misleading trailer referenced above, which manages to not give the entire story away, but seriously makes us think that the movie’s characters are one thing when they are really another. Again, from the trailer, it seems Banky is cupid or something, and in “Chasing Amy”, he so is not. As for Holden and Alyssa, their road is far more bumpy than the trailer suggests, but I suppose that’s what trailers do. They tease and mislead a lot of times, preserving the surprise for the final product. The last extra is a silly take on the color bars found at the end of a laser disc, which points us again to the fact that this was indeed a Criterion Collection laser before it was a DVD. And there you have it. With the march of comic books to the big screen, from “Road to Perdition” to “Hulk,” it got me thinking of this movie again, and I thought maybe it could use a review. Plus, it’s a good DVD. The movie’s funny and even at times touching, and the DVD’s extras all try to keep up the humor level. I think it’s a suitable end to the New Jersey Trilogy, and while I don’t have “Mallrats” on DVD (and to be honest, have never even really watched the entire movie, I’ve heard and read enough), if that was the low point, then bravo to Kevin Smith for having the trilogy end on this high note, delivering a film that doesn’t do a paint-by-numbers take on romantic comedies, but rather manages to give us something to think about and discuss afterwards. It’s a good addition to a DVD collection. Overall Rating: B for the film, B+ for the DVD. |
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