“Just for the fans” can be a real kiss of death when talking
about any form of media, but movies especially. In the mainstream,
finding-those-who-share-your-fandom-has-never-been-easier landscape, there is a
lot to unpack around the idea of making products for an
already-established fanbase. It can range anywhere from ‘let’s keep our
customers happy’ to ‘what they say they want and what they actually want
aren’t the same thing’, and pretty much every point on that scale has its ugly
side.
But it needn’t always be a bad thing. Sometimes, it can be
as simple as showing gratitude for audiences that have kept up with your work
for years, even decades, and wanting to let them know that you see them.
Avengers: Endgame from last year is an excellent example of that in the more
positive sense, and while not really on the same wavelength, I’d argue that
this film would be another.
I have admitted quite clearly in the past that I’m a die-hard Kevin
Smith fanboy, and have been for about as long as I can remember liking anything,
so this film is something of a double-edged sword for me. This shows him returning to the View Askewniverse of his early work, in particular Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back which this is a sequel/reboot of. Strike Back, to be quite
honest, is one of Smith’s weakest films and something of a masturbatory
exercise in the independent filmmaker flexing on how he ‘made it’. In
incredibly meta fashion, of course, something that gets boosted tremendously
here. Like, to the point where even I’m not that comfortable with all of
it.
When Smith described this as “literally the same fucking
movie all over again”, he really isn’t kidding. Some of it is out of
mild tweaking, like what the ‘girl gang’ looks like now, while the rest of it
is pretty much repeating the same gags and riffs from the original. And
considering most of those jokes didn’t work even back then, ooh boy, has age
not helped them at all. Add to that the aggressive amount of fourth-wall
breaks, constant cameos and references to Smith’s other work (which amounts to
cute hat-tips to the early stuff, self-flagellation for the more recent
efforts), and the constant need to wink at the camera even when removed from
those two, it really comes across like what metafictional touches look like to
people who absolutely hate them, regardless of position or context.
There’s also how the comedy on display is… unfortunate. I’m
not going to call it outright bad, since comedy is subjective and I’m punching
above my weight already without trying to define other people’s tastes. However, it
has the kind of hit-to-miss ratio where the jokes that actually do land are so
sporadic, they feel like they landed by happenstance more than anything else.
Which is a real shame because, for my first time seeing Jay & Silent Bob on
the big screen, I was primed and ready to get into this. Jay & Silent Bob
are up there with Steve-O & Chris Pontius and Colin Mochrie & Ryan Stiles as far as comedy duos that
defined my childhood, and it’s not even seeing them a lot older that throws me
off; it’s just that it doesn’t work as well as it used to.
But before that unwelcome “man… were these guys ever
any good?” feeling kicks in, the film manages to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
And even as someone who has followed the Kevin Smith body of work quite
intensively, even I didn’t know he’d get into this area. This is
basically Kevin Smith in full dad mode, unashamed levels of corniness included.
It’s rather fitting that the film’s first real punch of originality, not to
mention genuine laughter, comes with the arrival of Miss. Harley Quinn Smith as
Jay’s daughter.
This is where the meta quality starts to gel again, as it
shows Jay and by extension Jason Mewes as well as Kevin Smith reflecting on
their status as fathers, which creates an unexpected amount of weepy moments
when Harley Quinn’s Milly and Jay bond. That, and the catch-up with the
characters from Chasing Amy, which has one of Ben Affleck’s best performances
in years. I am not even remotely kidding; he gives the speech of the
film that ties everything together, from the father-daughter relationships
throughout to the numerous references to remakes and reboots.
Honestly, it’s the kind of unadulterated heart-warming shit
that, for me at least, overrides even the messier moments and brings this film
back into the green. It even goes beyond just being feature-length fan-service
and shows Smith doing what made for his best work: Using his own life
experiences to create genuine art. Knowing that he’s been trying to get Clerks
III and Mallrats 2 off the ground for years, this feels like something he’s
been itching to get on the big screen for a while now. And as both a fan of his
work beforehand, and as someone who’s grown quite fond of these years-removed
movie follow-ups that reflect on what came before, I enjoyed this in more
legitimate ways than I was expecting.
No comments:
Post a Comment