Kevin Smith retires his View Askewniverse characters from Leonardo, New Jersey with a great tribute to all of them. You don't need to have seen the previous films to enjoy the movie, but it will boost the laughs another 33%. It also helps if you've seen Good Will Hunting, watched the Cartoon Network, and have a passing acquaintance with Star Wars, teen tv and movies and most of the box office hits of the past 30 years. I lost count of how many of them Kevin lampoons, sweetly, of course. Despite the obvious front layer of scatological humor, Kevin's films really are pretty sweet deep down. As my significant other said "it's a guy flick" - but she was laughing almost as often and hard as I was, and hasn't yet seen Clerks, Amy or Dogma - I managed to cram in synopses on the drive over. The characters are all then need to be to feed situations and straight lines to Jay and Silent Bob, in that respect it's a sort of Blues Brothers, but substitute a couple of aimless stoners for Jake & Elwood. Like a true comic book maven, Kevin includes an origins piece, and much to his credit - this tells you how much respect he's garnered - some very self-effacing cameos from all corners of media. Don't know what he'll do next, but it's hard to imagine another production without Kevin/Silent Bob mugging it up under his own direction - and realize what a feat that is - to direct a coherent film that you yourself are in 90% of the shots! Thanks, Kevin - for this graduation present!
Review of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
