Overall rating: 4/5
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Linda Fiorentino, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, George Carlin and Alanis Morissette as God
Tagline: Catholic theology goes to hell, and so will Kevin Smith
The Film: Legalistic Catholic church dogma is taken to task for missing the beauty of pure faith as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck scheme to destroy the world (that part’s true – have you seen The Bourne Identity and Pearl Harbor?). As these two angels use a loophole in church doctrine to trick God, that luckless shmoe, into destroying the universe, Linda Fiorentino, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek and “Jay and Silent Bob” try to save creation mostly through rambling commentary on consumerism, Star Wars and theology. Very funny, confusing if you’re not paying close attention – a shotgun blast of social satire that will offend the deserving.
Rating: 4/5
DVD: Smith is a complete fanboy, so this two-disc DVD set caters to that mentality. If you love Smith’s films, these are a bonanza. If you’re not hard-core, then it’s a little too much. Not only are there copious outtakes, but they’re introduced by Smith (drinking game: One swig every time he says, “So, check it out”). What these outtakes prove is that the whole film is more than the sum of its parts, and that the genius here was making such a pleasant coherence out of hundreds of minutes of lackluster meanderings.
Overall DVD packaging is nice, menus are nice, commentary is of course a bunch of fart jokes and unrepressed homoeroticism, just like the movie.
Easter Eggs: Several. At the end of each disk is Jason (”Jay”) Mewes and Smith mocking themselves with their action-figure lookalikes. Disc one: Go to the end of the scene selection menu, press 3, 3. Disc two: Go to the end of the deleted scene menus and press 2, 4. A handful of other, minor eggs exist, too.
Five Degrees of Seperation
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back – more self-indulgence, gay jokes and
tomfoolery. Plus, Mark Hamill.
Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey - Watch the angel of death get “melvined” by a different pair of wisecrakin’ morons.
Chasing Amy – The best of Smith’s quartet of “View Askewniverse” films
Buckaroo Banzai – Convoluted plots, fun ham acting, ass-kicking coolness. A
cult classic.
From Dusk Til Dawn – The other movie where Salma Hayek plays a gorgeous stripper who’s actually a supernatural creature.
December 26th, 2002 at 10:26 am
Aw, c’mon. The Bourne Identity wasn’t that bad…
December 30th, 2002 at 3:07 pm
I always thought this film was an overblown trainwreck. Too much crap crammed in to what was an otherwise great idea. Affleck and his boy make a great couple of rogue angels, but throwing Jay and Silent Bob in the mix just goofs the whole thing up. Smith writes some great dialogue, but as a director, I think he leaves much to be desired. All of his films have that sort of amateurish clumsiness to them that really spoil the finished product. Chasing Amy had potential, but the stupid ending blew any promise that had all to hell.
January 21st, 2003 at 1:00 pm
to truly enjoy kevin smith movies requires a certain.. oh i dunno intellect?
March 25th, 2004 at 1:35 pm
One of my favorite films - it was fun to sit back and hear all of the controversy about it. We do mourn our faith and leave it up to the Catholics to end the world.