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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: August 24, 2001

I'll start by saying the film we saw tonight is not the finished project. The sound needs some work. The soundtrack is not added throughout the feature and the scrolling end credits are not yet complete. This was the disclaimer we got prior to the start of the movie.

Ok, I'm a fan of Kevin Smith. I'm not a freaky memorize all of his films, wait outside his house just for a glimpse of him kind of fan. But a fan nonetheless. I've seen all of his movies and I consider Chasing Amy to be his best. I mention this because I want it to be clear that I'm aware of all the stories and the characters in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Going into the film, I just wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle an entire film centered around Jay's mouth. He's one of those "funny in small doses" kind of characters and with a partner that doesn't speak much, I was afraid I might come out of the theater suffering from "Jay Overload." Well, either Smith toned Jay down a little bit, or I was 100% wrong in that assessment. Don't get me wrong, Jay is up to the same old stuff, but I never grew tired of him. In fact, the movie ended leaving me wanting more.

The plot is pretty thin in this one. But, in a good way. If there were a bigger plot to the movie, over half of the gags in the film would have had to be thrown out. And, that would have been a real shame, because I haven't laughed this hard at a movie in years. The plot can really be laid out in three sentences. "The comic book characters of Bluntman and Chronic have been sold to Miramax to make a feature film. Jay and Silent Bob, on which the characters are based, were stiffed out of the money that they should get for using their images for the movie. They head to Hollywood to even the score." That, my friends, is it. Not much to build an entire movie around, eh? Wrong! Smith brings back some familiar faces and adds some new faces to his world and I'm fairly certain that even with this thin of a plot, the movie could have been an hour or so longer and been just as good.

I know I said I would leave this review pretty much spoiler free, there is one part I feel the need to talk about and when I'm through, you'll understand why. At one point, Jay and Bob are shown a site on the internet that is basically a rumor/message board site for movies. It's on this site that they find the message board where all the users are slamming the idea of a Bluntman and Chronic movie and Jay and Silent Bob themselves. What's great about this scene is the dialogue going on in the background about what losers people who read these sites and post on these sites are. I felt incredibly silly as if Smith knew I was going to be in the audience to see that part. And amazingly enough, here I am on the internet writing a review, so a bunch of internet movie losers can read it. Classic humor, in my opinion. Also, when they show a shot of the movie website, be sure to take a look for the name of the writer on the site. Could that be a shot at our buddy over at AICN? Hmmm...could be!

While it doesn't have the story of Chasing Amy or the controversy of Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob does have more laugh out loud, damn near pee your pants funny moments then both of those films put together. Almost every new character is a familiar face and it just gets more outrageous as the film goes on. I mean where else could you find a gay Star Wars wedding, an orangutan, Morris Day and the Time, a nun and a jewel heist. Only in the mind of Kevin Smith, that's where. As these two lovable idiots from Jersey make their way across the country to get to Hollywood, they encounter almost every type of person imaginable. A hitchhiker with the Rules of the Road. A nun, an inept Federal Wildlife Marshall, an incredible looking band of Charlie's Angels wannabes, a trained orangutan, the cast of an old cartoon show and the one and only love of Jay's life, maybe.

For those who like the characters of Jay and Silent Bob, this will be one of the most fun experiences you'll have at the theater this year. Jason Mewes as Jay is at his absolute best and Kevin Smith's lovable near-mute Silent Bob plays off of Jay perfectly. It's as if they've done this before. Expect a lot of foul language, including combinations of curse words I wouldn't ever have thought of. Be ready for the typical dick and fart jokes and be ready for a whole lot of surprises you never saw coming. And while you'll pretty much be expecting some of the cast members, you may not be expecting them in the characters they are in. There are many people playing themselves in this one, and not a single one of them has been made exempt from Kevin Smith's biting humor.

So, to conclude...while Jay and Silent Bob doesn't have the most compelling story of the year, it certainly has plenty to make up for that. I haven't had this much fun at a movie in ages. In fact, I dare you to go to this movie and not have fun. I bet you won't be able to do it.