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/or reprising roles from thepreviousfourentries. The film was a minor commercial success, grossing $33.8 million worldwide from a $22 million budget, and received mixed reviews from critics.
The pair visit Holden McNeil (Chasing Amy), co-creator and co-writer of Bluntman and Chronic, and demand him to give them their royalties from the film, but Holden explains he sold his half of the rights to co-creator and artist Banky Edwards. Seeing the film's negative reception online,[10] 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, to 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, stealing an orangutan named Suzanne. They escape as the police arrive and the van explodes, believing the girls have perished.
Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly (whose name is taken from Land of the Lost characters) arrives at the crime scene; 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. In an interview with Reg Hartner on TV, Willenholly declares the crime an act of terrorism and calls for backup to hunt "the two most dangerous men on the planet."
Hiding inside a diner, the pair dress Suzanne as a child and pretend to be a gay couple, with Suzanne as their kid. Willenholly, not wanting to face the political repercussions of "arresting a gay couple", lets them leave but quickly catches on and resumes pursuit. The pair jump into a sewer system, and Willenholly is tricked into jumping off a dam.
Suzanne is abducted by a Hollywood animal acting agency called "Critters of Hollywood". Jay laments that they will never see Suzanne again, only to have Silent Bob angrily, and loudly, explain that the sign on the car (also calling Jay a dumbfuck for not getting what Silent Bob's gesturing right after Suzanne was stolen was about) indicated that they will probably meet up with Suzanne in Hollywood. The duo then hitch a ride and arrive in Hollywood. When they get to the Miramax lot, they find themselves in the background of an E! News newscast with Steve Kmetko and Jules Asner about the online threat the duo sent against the studio earlier in the film. Watching the news, Justice heads off to Hollywood to fix things, taking the diamonds with her, with Willenholly close behind.
Chased by studio security guard Gordon through the Miramax lot and several movie sets, including Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season, 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 respectively in the film. Suzanne beats up the actors, knocking them out, and Jay and Silent Bob assume the roles while Van Der Beek and Biggs are arrested after getting mistaken for the duo.
Meeting the film's racist director Chaka Luther King, who mistakes them for Biggs and Van Der Beek's stunt doubles, Jay and Silent Bob are then escorted onto the set and forced to fight Mark Hamill, playing the supervillain of the film Cocknocker (a combination of Hamill's roles as The Joker, The Trickster, and Luke Skywalker) in a Star Wars-esque battle. Willenholly, armed with a shotgun, arrives to capture the pair, but Justice protects them, admitting the CLIT organization was only a diversion.
The other thieves arrive and a climactic gun fight ensues. Jay and Silent Bob locate Banky and demand their royalty money. Banky at first refuses on account of the large sum of money that Miramax paid him for the film. Silent Bob then informs Banky that he violated their original likeness rights contract by not getting their permission for the film before selling the film rights of Bluntman and Chronic to Miramax, and therefore could face serious legal troubles if he doesn't meet their demands. Banky finally relents and agrees to give the duo half of what he makes from the movie. Justice then turns herself and her former team in to Willenholly in exchange for a shorter sentence and freeing Jay and Silent Bob.
While they wait for the Quick Stop restraining order to expire, Jay and Silent Bob spend their royalty money locating everyone who expressed negative opinions on the internet about the movie and their characters, including children and members of the clergy, and travel to assault them. The scene cuts to the El Rey theater where a bunch of people exit, including Dante, Randal, Banky, Steve-Dave Pulski, Walt "The Fanboy" Grover, Willam Black, Hooper LaMonte, and sisters Alyssa and Tricia Jones, having just watched the Bluntman and Chronic movie, to poor reception. Jay and Silent Bob, accompanied by Justice and Willenholly (now an FBI agent), go across the street to enjoy the after party, featuring a performance from Morris Day and The Time.
The film's plot was heavily inspired by Chasing Dogma, a comic book miniseries that Smith wrote in 1998 and 1999 to explore events that happened in the Askewniverse between Chasing Amy and Dogma.[11]
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 producer 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).[12]
Critical reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 52% based on 151 reviews, with an average rating of 5.60/10. 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."[13] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[15]
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".[16] 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".[17] 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."[18][19] In August 2001, Mike Schulz of River Cities' Reader wrote that, "for sheer laughs, both mindless and incredibly smart, nothing since 1997's Waiting for Guffman has even compared."[20]
Home media
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was released on VHS and on a two-disc DVD in the Dimension Collector's Series on February 26, 2002, presented in its original 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Among the bonus features on the DVD is an audio commentary by Smith, Mosier, and Mewes, 42 deleted, extended, and alternate scenes, music videos for Stroke 9's Kick Some Ass and Afroman's Because I Got High, storyboards, a gag reel, a behind the scenes special, still galleries, cast and crew filmographies, and TV spots. [21][22] A Blu-ray version of the film was released on September 19, 2006 with all features carried over from the DVD.
Soundtrack
Music from the Dimension Motion Picture Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
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.
Interlude: Cue Music by Jason Lee (as Brodie Bruce) – 0:03
In August 2001, three weeks prior to release, the film came under fire from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), for an alleged "overwhelmingly homophobic tone",[24] 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.[25][26] Ebert responded to this controversy, writing: "GLAAD should give audiences credit for enough intelligence to know the difference between satire and bigotry."[16]
On the bonus DVD, 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 finally earn an R rating.
See also
Hit-Girl: The Golden Rage of Hollywood, Smith's comic book re-adaptation of the concept.
Chasing Amy is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series, the film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee).
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob, characters who also appeared in Smith's later films Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), Clerks II (2006), Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), and Clerks III (2022) which are set primarily in his home state of New Jersey. While not strictly sequential, the films have crossover plot elements, character references, and a shared canon known as the "View Askewniverse", named after Smith's production company View Askew Productions, which he co-founded with Scott Mosier.
Dogma is a 1999 American fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, George Carlin, Linda Fiorentino, Janeane Garofalo, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Salma Hayek, Bud Cort, Alan Rickman, Alanis Morissette and Jason Mewes. It is the fourth film in Smith's View Askewniverse series. Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson, stars of the first Askewniverse film Clerks, appear in the film, as do Smith regulars Scott Mosier, Dwight Ewell, Walt Flanagan, and Bryan Johnson.
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively. They appear in the View Askewniverse, a fictional universe used in most of the films, comics, and television programs written and produced by Kevin Smith.
Clerks is a 1994 American black-and-white comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith in his feature directorial debut.
Mallrats is a 1995 American buddy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Jason Mewes, Joey Lauren Adams, Michael Rooker, and Smith as Silent Bob. It is the second film in the View Askewniverse and a prequel to 1994's Clerks.
Jason Edward Mewes is an American actor, comedian, film producer, and podcaster. He is best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's films.
Jersey Girl is a 2004 American comedy-drama film written, co-edited and directed by Kevin Smith. It stars Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler with George Carlin, Stephen Root, Mike Starr, Raquel Castro, Jason Biggs and Jennifer Lopez in supporting roles. The film follows a widowed man who must take care of his precocious daughter after her mother dies during childbirth.
View Askew Productions is an American film and television production company founded by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier in 1994. Actors Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Matt Damon, Chris Rock, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran, Ethan Suplee, and Smith himself are just some of the stars that frequently appear in projects under the View Askew banner.
Scott A. Mosier is an American film producer, director and editor best known for his work with director Kevin Smith, with whom he occasionally co-hosts the weekly podcast, SModcast.
Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash is a comic book store owned by filmmaker Kevin Smith, and named after the fictional duo portrayed by Smith and Jason Mewes in Smith's View Askewniverse films. Merchandise includes comic books, comic-related merchandise, and View Askew film-related items. The store is located at 65 Broad Street in Red Bank, New Jersey.
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media, and characters from one story often reappear or are referred to in others. Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film; Smith himself portrays the character of Silent Bob.
Clerks is an American adult animated sitcom created by Kevin Smith for ABC. Based on Smith's 1994 comedy film of the same name, it was developed for television by Smith, Smith's producing partner Scott Mosier and former Seinfeld writer David Mandel with character designs by Stephen Silver, known for character designs in Disney Channel's Kim Possible and Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom. It is the first television show to be set in Smith's View Askewniverse. It is Disney’s second adult animated television series after The PJs.
Walter Flanagan is a former comic book store manager, reality television personality, podcaster, and comic book artist. Flanagan is a long-time friend of Kevin Smith, and it was Flanagan who turned Smith on to comic books. He formerly managed Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Red Bank, New Jersey.
Bluntman and Chronic are characters appearing in a fictional eponymous comic book series seen in the movies Chasing Amy,Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Actual Bluntman and Chronic comic books based on the fictional movie comic book series were published after the release of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Both the movies and the comic books were created by writer and actor Kevin Smith. Comics creator Mike Allred designed the costumes for the characters.
Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! is a 2013 American adult animated comedy film written by Kevin Smith, directed by Steve Stark, and produced by Jason Mewes and Jordan Monsanto. The film's script was adapted from the Bluntman And Chronic comic book story originally written by Smith as a companion piece to his 2001 film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and it is the seventh film in the View Askewniverse.
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a 2019 American satirical buddy stoner comedy film written, directed, edited by, and starring Kevin Smith. A sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it is the eighth film in the View Askewniverse. The film also stars Jason Mewes, and features cameos from Brian O'Halloran, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Shannon Elizabeth, Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer, Melissa Benoist, Craig Robinson, Tommy Chong, Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck.
Clerks III is a 2022 American dark comedy-drama film written, produced, directed, and edited by Kevin Smith and starring Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Trevor Fehrman, Austin Zajur, Jason Mewes, Rosario Dawson and Smith. It serves as a standalone sequel to the 1994 and 2006 Clerks films, and is the ninth overall feature film set in the View Askewniverse. In the film, Randal Graves, after surviving a massive heart attack, enlists his friends and fellow clerks Dante Hicks, Elias Grover, and Jay and Silent Bob to make a movie about their lives at the Quick Stop Convenience store that started it all.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
