Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is a 2001 American buddy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of his cult-favorite Clerks. It focuses on the two eponymous characters, played respectively by Jason Mewes and Smith. The film features cameo appearances from Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams and Shannen Doherty among many others. The title and logo for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back are direct references to The Empire Strikes Back.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Smith
Produced byScott Mosier
Written byKevin Smith
Starring
Music byJames L. Venable
CinematographyJamie Anderson
Edited by
  • Scott Mosier
  • Kevin Smith
Production
companies
Distributed byMiramax Films
Release date
  • August 24, 2001 (2001-08-24)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[2]
Box office$33.8 million[2]

Originally intended to be the last film set in the Askewniverse, or to feature Jay and Silent Bob, Strike Back features many characters from the previous Askew films, some in dual roles and reprising roles from the previous entries. The film was a minor commercial success, grossing $33.8 million worldwide from a $22 million budget, and received mixed reviews from critics.

Smith announced in February 2017 that he was writing a sequel called Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and started filming in February 2019[3][4][5][6] and was released on October 15 that same year.[7][8]

Plot

Upon receiving a restraining order from Randal Graves (Clerks) for selling drugs outside the Quick Stop, Jay and Silent Bob learn from Brodie Bruce (Mallrats) that Bluntman and Chronic, the comic book based on their likenesses, is being adapted by Miramax Films. The pair visit Holden McNeil (Chasing Amy), co-writer of Bluntman and Chronic, and demand royalties from the film, but Holden explains he sold his share of the rights to co-creator Banky Edwards. Seeing the negative reaction the film has received online,[9] the pair set out for Hollywood to prevent the film from tainting their image, or at least to receive the royalties owed to them.

En route, they befriend an animal liberation group: Justice, Sissy, Missy, Chrissy, and Brent. The organization is a front; Brent is a patsy, who will free animals from a laboratory as a diversion while the girls rob a diamond depository. Jay throws Brent out of the van to get closer to Justice, with whom he is attracted to. Justice is fond of the pair, but reluctantly accepts them as new patsies.

While the girls steal the diamonds, Jay and Silent Bob free the animals, taking an orangutan named Suzanne with them. They escape as the police arrive and the van explodes, which they believe has killed the girls.

Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly (whose name is taken from Land of the Lost characters ) arrives; oblivious to the diamond heist, he claims jurisdiction due to the escaped animals, all of which have been recovered but the orangutan. The officers find footage of a video Sissy recorded of Jay claiming to be "the clit commander", with accompanying literature that "Clit" is an acronym for Coalition for the Liberation of Itinerant Tree-Dwellers. Willenholly declares the crime an act of terrorism and calls for backup to hunt "the two most dangerous men on the planet."

Seeking refuge inside a diner, Jay and Silent Bob dress Suzanne as their child. Willenholly, facing the political repercussions of "arresting a gay couple", lets them leave but quickly resumes the chase. The fugitives jump into a sewer system, and Willenholly is tricked into jumping off a dam.

Suzanne is abducted by a Hollywood animal acting agency, and Jay and Silent Bob arrive in Hollywood and find themselves in the background of an E! News newscast about their online threat against Miramax. Watching the news, Justice takes the diamonds to Hollywood to set things right. Willenholly also leaves for Hollywood.

Chased by studio security and reclaiming Suzanne from the set of Scream 4, Jay and Silent Bob end up in the dressing room of Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek, the actors playing Bluntman and Chronic. Suzanne beats up the actors, and Jay and Silent Bob assume the roles. Meeting racist director Chaka Luther King, they are forced to fight Mark Hamill, playing the supervillain Cocknocker. Willenholly arrives to capture Jay and Silent Bob, but Justice protects them, admitting the CLIT organization was only a diversion. The other thieves arrive and a climactic final battle ensues. Jay and Silent Bob get their royalties from Banky after Silent Bob informs him he violated their original likeness rights contract by not getting their permission before selling the film rights to Miramax, and could face serious legal troubles, and Justice turns herself and her former team in to Willenholly in exchange for a shorter sentence and freeing Jay and Silent Bob.

Jay and Silent Bob spend their royalty money locating everyone who expressed negative opinions on the internet about the movie and their characters, including kids and clergy, and travel to assault them. The scene cuts to the audience leaving the theater, having just watched the Bluntman and Chronic movie, to poor reception. Jay and Silent Bob, with Justice and Willenholly, go across the street to enjoy the after party, featuring a performance from Morris Day and The Time.

After the credits, God closes the View Askewniverse book.

Cast

Production

The film was originally titled View Askew 5 and the title was changed to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Filming began on January 14, 2001, and ended on April 19, 2001. Filming took in place in New Jersey, and mostly in California.

On his podcast Jay & Silent Bob Get Old, Kevin Smith explained at length about how much of a "headache" the film was to make, mostly owing to Jason Mewes's drug and alcohol abuse turning him into a "ticking time bomb", which threatened to shut the project down at any moment. During pre-production, Mewes would have constant mood swings due to heroin withdrawal, to the point that Smith actually threw him out of his car on their way to the set one day. Mewes would compensate for his lack of drugs by drinking heavily after every day of shooting and nearly got into a fist fight with Scott Mosier when he had to come back one night for a re-shoot while drunk. When the shoot wrapped, Smith told Mewes point-blank to get sober or he would never speak to him again.

Release

Box office

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back grossed $30.1 million in the United States and Canada and $3.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $33.8 million, against a production budget of $22 million.[2]

The film grossed $11 million in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office behind two other comedy sequels, American Pie 2 ($12.5 million) and Rush Hour 2 ($11.6 million).[10]

Critical reception

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 153 reviews, with an average rating of 5.61/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fans can expect a good laugh as the cast from Smith's previous films reunite for Jay and Silent Bob's last bow. The loose plotting and crude language may be too much for others though."[11] On Metacritic the film has a score of 51 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[13]

Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, writing that "[w]hether you will like 'Jay and Silent Bob' depends on who you are ... Kevin Smith's movies are either made specifically for you, or specifically not made for you".[14] Adam Smith of Empire gave the film 3/5 stars, writing that "[w]hen it's good it's very, very good, but when it's bad it's offensive", and noting that "the gag hit/miss ratio is really only about 50/50".[15] Scott Tobias of The A.V. Club wrote that "[e]ven at a slim 95 minutes, Jay And Silent Bob lets initially funny scenes trail off into long-winded monologues and silly digressions", and Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times called the film "[may]be the greatest picture ever made for 14-year-old boys. Mr. Smith may have hit his target, but he aimed very low."[16][17]

Home media

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was released on VHS and Dimension Collector's Series two-disc DVD on February 26, 2002.[18][19] A Blu-ray version of the film was released on September 19, 2006.

Soundtrack
Music from the Dimension Motion Picture Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Soundtrack album to the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back by
Various artists
ReleasedAugust 14, 2001
RecordedVarious
GenreVarious
Length56:41
LabelUniversal
View Askewniverse soundtrack chronology
Dogma
(1999)		 Music from the Dimension Motion Picture Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
(2001)		 Clerks II
(2006)
Singles from Music from the Dimension Motion Picture Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
  1. "Because I Got High"
    Released: July 30, 2001
  2. "Kick Some Ass"
    Released: August 2002
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[20]

Music from the Dimension Motion Picture: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the soundtrack to the film, was released on August 14, 2001, by Universal Records. Varèse Sarabande released the original score by James L. Venable. It alternates film dialogue with songs of various genres that appear in the film. It features the 2001 Afroman hit, "Because I Got High", whose music video featured the characters Jay and Silent Bob. 'Tube Of Wonderful' was previously used as the theme song from Smith's 1997 film Chasing Amy.

  1. Interlude: Cue Music by Jason Lee (as Brodie Bruce) – 0:03
  2. "Jay's Rap 2001" by Jason Mewes (as Jay) – 0:32
  3. "Kick Some Ass" by Stroke 9 – 4:05
  4. Holden on Affleck by Ben Affleck as Holden McNeil – 0:28
  5. "Tube of Wonderful" by Dave Pirner – 1:45
  6. Cyber Savvy by Ben Affleck and Jason Mewes (as Holden and Jay) – 0:07
  7. "Choked Up" by Minibar – 2:58
  8. Doobie Snacks by Jason Mewes (as Jay) – 0:08
  9. "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf – 2:43
  10. Jay & Justice by Shannon Elizabeth and Jason Mewes (as Justice and Jay) – 0:11
  11. "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi – 3:55
  12. Stealing Monkeys – 0:08
  13. "This Is Love" by PJ Harvey – 3:45
  14. Advice from Above – 0:23
  15. "The Devil's Song" by Marcy Playground – 2:52
  16. Idiots vs. The Internet – 0:06
  17. "Tougher Than Leather" by Run-D.M.C. – 4:23
  18. Willenholly's Woe by Will Ferrell (as Willenholly) – 0:09
  19. "Bullets" by Bob Schneider – 4:22
  20. Touching a Brother's Heart by Jason Mewes and Tracy Morgan (as Jay and Pumpkin Escobar) – 0:23
  21. "Hiphopper" by Thomas Rusiak featuring Teddybears STHLM – 4:46
  22. Two Thumbs Up by Chris Rock (as Chaka Luther King) – 0:07
  23. "Jackass" by Bloodhound Gang – 2:26
  24. A Smooth Pimp and a Man Servant by Jason Mewes (as Jay) – 0:16
  25. "Jungle Love" (Live) by Morris Day and The Time – 3:03
  26. NWP by Chris Rock (as Chaka Luther King) – 0:14
  27. "Because I Got High" by Afroman – 3:18

MPAA rating and GLAAD controversy

In August 2001, three weeks prior to release, the film came under fire from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), for its "overwhelmingly homophobic tone",[21] which included an abundance of gay jokes and characters excessively using the term "gay" to mean something derogatory. The scenes deemed particularly offensive included Jay's vehement refusal of giving oral sex to a male driver when hitchhiking, and Jay chastising Silent Bob for being willing to perform fellatio on him to get the security guard to let them go. Following an advance screening of the film, former GLAAD media director Scott Seomin asked Smith to make a $10,000 donation to the Matthew Shepard Foundation, as well as to include a reference to GLAAD's cause in the ending credits.[22][23]

On the bonus DVD (176 minutes), Smith explains in the on-camera intros of the deleted scenes that several scenes had to be cut from the theatrical release, due to the film initially receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. He also mentions in the audio commentary of the feature film that it took three submissions to the MPAA for the film to earn an R rating.

See also

Notes

^ According to Ethan Alter of Film Journal International, Smith did not intend to make another View Askewniverse film upon completion of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but only decided to do so several years later, following the unsuccessful release of Jersey Girl.[24]

^ Will Ferrell would later star in the 2009 film adaptation of Land of the Lost as Dr. Rick Marshall alongside Danny McBride as Will Stanton and Anna Friel as Holly Cantrell.

References
  1. "JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK (18)". British Board of Film Classification. September 4, 2001. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  2. "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
  3. ‘Jay and Silent Bob Reboot’ Is Kevin Smith’s New Film, ‘Clerks III’ and ‘Mallrats 2’ Are Dead
  4. "Jay And Silent Bob Reboot' Set To Start Filming This Summer".
  5. "Jay And Silent Bob Reboot Movie Shooting This Year". July 23, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
  6. https://www.screengeek.net/2018/11/13/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot-2019/
  7. "KEVIN SMITH REVEALS 'JAY AND SILENT BOB REBOOT' DETAILS AND RELEASE DATE". May 29, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  8. Mancuso, Vinnie (February 25, 2019). "Kevin Smith Marks 'Jay and Silent Bob Reboot' Production Start with Behind-the-Scenes Photo". Collider.com.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Weekend Box Office: August 24-26, 2001". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  11. Rotten Tomatoes
  12. http://www.metacritic.com/movie/jay-and-silent-bob-strike-back
  13. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on September 14, 2002. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
  14. Roger Ebert (August 24, 2001). "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) Movie Review". Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  15. Adam Smith. "Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back Review". Empire. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  16. Scott Tobias (August 31, 2001). "Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back". The A.V. Club. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  17. Elvis Mitchell (August 24, 2001). "FILM REVIEW; Hitchhiking in a Hurry: What Does That Tell You?". The New York Times. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  18. Topel, Fred (January 4, 2002). "Jay and Silent Bob's Creator Plots DVDs". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on March 9, 2002. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  19. Wolf, Jessica (February 7, 2002). "Little-Seen Kevin Smith Film Bows Same Day as Silent Bob". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2002. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  20. Love, Bret. "Original Soundtrack - Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". AllMusic. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  21. Armstrong, Mark (August 2, 2001). "GLAAD Strikes Back at 'Silent Bob'". eonline.com. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  22. Ascher-Walsh, Rebecca (August 3, 2001). "GLAAD, Don't Get Mad". EW.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2009. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  23. Smith, Kevin (July 31, 2001). "Some bad, bad news concerning me and GLAAD". viewaskew.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
  24. Alter, Ethan. "CLERKS II". Film Journal International. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
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