Cast: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Harley Quinn Smith, Aparna Brielle

Director: Kevin Smith

Review:

I have no idea how Kevin Smith has been able to ride the wave of his Jay and Silent Bob characters for 25 years, but here we are with yet another one of his movies hitting our screens.  I like some of his movies from the 1990s like Clerks, but at some point you have to move on and explore other areas of entertainment.  Jay and Silent Bob Reboot isn’t necessarily a bad movie, but it just doesn’t add anything new or exciting to the series.  When a movie has to rely on gags from the past as much as this movie does, you know it’s because they’re desperate and have nothing left in the tank, and that’s exactly what Jay and Silent Bob Reboot feels like.

The film continues to follow the events of Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) as they travel to Hollywood to prevent the characters Bluntman and Chronic from their movie being part of a reboot of a similar nature.  On the way to Hollywood, Jay meets with one of his former girlfriends and realizes she had his daughter Millennium “Milly” Faulken (Harley Quinn Smith) 18 years ago.  Learning that Milly also wants to go to Hollywood for a similar reason, the three work together with Milly’s friends to get everyone out to California so they can accomplish their goals.  While the introduction of Milly creates a few new opportunities for jokes and adds a layer of depth to Jay’s character, it isn’t enough to make up for a relatively lackluster plot.  It’s a fairly standard Kevin Smith movie, so if you didn’t like his previous movies, you’ll have a bad time here. Considering this movie builds off of the events of the previous movies, those not in the know of those events will feel lost at times.  Outside of that, if you’re not a fan of blunt, crude humor, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is going to be a movie that outrages.  There’s no subtlety with any of their jokes, specifically anything regarding race.  When you have a Muslim girl named Jihad (Brielle) and the group somehow ends up at a Klan meeting, you can tell finesse is not exactly Smith’s strong suit.  I think some of these scenes work in the context they’re presented in, but at the same time they’re too frequent to be seen as one-off moments.  Even if I think they work well, it’s going to be tough to convince someone who doesn’t share that same sense of humor that this is funny.  Smith made a movie exclusively for people who like Smith movies, so in that sense I can’t say that he failed. The box office results reflect this as his draw may not exactly be what it was 20 years ago.  If you like goofy jokes and celebrity cameos, then you’ll find Jay and Silent Bob Reboot to be a relatively enjoyable experience.  For anyone else though, buckle up because you guys are in for a very wild ride.

Overall, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot will come off as divisive, but at the same time I can recognize its strengths and its flaws.  If you view this in the context of the rest of Smith’s movies, we can see the obvious pattern that occurs when he directs movies.  Love them or hate them, he’s built a career off of it so you’ll either tune in and come to his guest screenings or you’ll continue to live your life as is.  As a stream this isn’t a bad experience, but I don’t know if Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is something I would go out of my way to watch.

Overall Score: 5.5/10