Jay and Silent Bob are like fine wine: they seem to get better with age, different people have different tolerance levels for them, and they make some people puke.
The duo's latest vulgar display of stoner power, "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is indeed a striking string of rapid-fire gags tailor-made to please fans while thoroughly insulting and alienating nay-sayers.
The movie's plot is extremely loose, providing a cartoony landscape for the Generation X Odd Couple (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively) to get into trouble and discover all kinds of wild things about the underbelly of both road travel and Hollywood.
Right off the bat, the two are slapped with a restraining order to prevent them from dealing drugs in front of their favorite store. They then discover that a movie is being made from a comic book based on their lives.
Furious over some negative publicity they get on the Internet, they set out for Hollywood to sabotage the film.Along the way, they befriend an imprisoned orangutan and meet a van full of Maxim cover girls who commit crimes in skin-tight leather.
"Strike Back" is critically bulletproof. Any attempt to point out uneven performances or the rambling and nonsensical plot is redundant. The fact that the idiocy level here is higher than Jay on a Friday night is totally intentional.
Make no mistake, the film is lowbrow, with no higher aims than some cheap laughs based on cussing and toilet humor. But for what it is, it's pretty darn good. Several belly laughs, a few genuinely shocking lines and a general atmosphere of pandemonium make for a very entertaining viewing experience.
Amazingly, the film has several visually dynamic scenes. Director Kevin Smith has often faced criticism for his lack of visual style and over-reliance on dialogue. "Strike Back" is very heavy on the dialogue, but an elaborately choreographed, computer-enhanced diamond heist scene is shockingly well composed. Smith has either found his mark as a visual stylist, or he's spoofing his lack of visual imagination. Either way, it works.The dialogue is priceless. The endless, borderline poetic usage of the "f" word is so relentless that, by the end, the word seems to take on a life of its own and deserves to have its name in the credits as a character.
After a summer loaded with gross-out fests such as "Freddy Got Fingered" and "Scary Movie 2," "Strike Back" seems downright tame in that area. Almost every vile event is implied or discussed rather than shown.
"Strike Back" has a lot of heart. Even the most vile characters are endearing in their own bizarre way.The cast list is endless and loaded with effective star cameos, in which most of them play themselves. Nearly everyone who has worked at or with Miramax gets a chance to skewer both the company and their own image.
The major players, Smith and Mewes, know their parts backwards and forwards and milk them for all they're worth. Will Ferrel's bumbling wildlife ranger role could have been hammy and irritating in the hands of a lesser comedian, but he likewise does well with it.
Anyone who missed Smith's last four films will be left completely in the dark by a lot of lines and character appearances. He manages to work in references to and appearances by nearly every player from his previous works in an attempt to bring closure to his comic world.
Smith's fifth feature film promises to be the swan song of the dynamic duo. In a way, ending the film careers of these two is tragic, since these characters have a very loyal fan base and could continue to work well as bit players, such as in "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy."
But everyone has to grow up sometime, and Smith has made the wise choice of quitting while he's ahead.
The bottom line is that it would be even more tragic for Jay and Bob to run their routine into the ground and become predictable and irritating even to their biggest fans.
For fans of Smith's View Askew universe, "Strike Back" is mandatory viewing and will probably please all. For casual Smith viewers and non-fans, approach with extreme caution - any film with Jay and Silent Bob is guaranteed to be a strange brew.
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