When “That’s Kinda Neat” Becomes a Mild Obsession.

This one got a bit long winded so I’ll include a TL;DR at the bottom. Of course if you didn’t want to read, why are you on a blog, you utter troglodyte?

At the risk of sounding like every youtuber trying to trash talk a well loved property, I’ve been a fan of the ViewAskewniverse since waaaaay before it was age appropriate for me to be watching these films. I saw Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back when I was 12 years old, and since then I was hooked. By the time I was starting high school I had dvd copies of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, AND the extremely underrated Clerks Animated Series. My passion for these films really only faded out when the films themselves began to. There was a good long while after Clerks 2 came out in 2006 where there simply wasn’t anything being made. By the time Jay and Silent Bobs Groovy Cartoon Movie came out in 2013 I was so checked out that it flew under my radar.

Enter Jay and Silent Bob: Reboot

When I first heard about this movie and its general premise of taking the piss out of all the reboots popping up lately by making a totally new movie with an almost identical plot to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back my initial reaction was a tepid: “That’s cool, give ‘em hell Kev.” After which I promptly forgot that the project was in the works. That is, until the trailer dropped at comic-con and re-kindled my interest in the entire franchise. It started slowly, with the trailer reminding me here and there of little things I used to love about these films, or how just plain funny they were. Then I just kept stumbling upon all of these announcements that have made me more and more eager to see the finished project, to the point where I am now anticipating this more than any other movie currently on the slate. Here is everything I’ve found out so far…

The Film is NOT a Reboot, The Premise Is

This is the first thing anyone interested in this movie should probably know. The original Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back film was about the doobie smoking dynamic duo making their way across the country from New Jersey to Hollywood in order to stop production of a movie based on a comic whose superhero characters were based off of them, Bluntman and Chronic. The new film is knowingly rehashing that formula by having Jay and Silent Bob making their way back to Hollywood in order to stop a reboot of the Bluntman and Chronic movie. See what they did there? Pretty clever, right?

There Will Be At Least A Slight Tie-in With Mallrats

Mallrats 2 has apparently been stuck in development hell for almost half a decade at this point, with Kevin Smith even trying to have it made as a TV series. After cruising Kevin Smith’s instagram I happened across a photo of him with Jason Lee, an actor who has played many roles in various View Askew Films, that mentioned Lee was playing Brodie Bruce in the scene they had just been shooting. Now, I know Brodie appeared at the beginning of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for all of 2 minutes, and this could just be a reproduction of that, but given Kevin Smith’s attempts at reviving the Mallrats franchise I wouldn’t be surprised if there was at least a little more to it. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Jason Lee plays at least a double role in the film as both Brodie Bruce and Banky Edwards, since Banky (his character from Chasing Amy) was one of the co-creators of Bluntman and Chronic.

Speaking of Chasing Amy

Yet another thing Kevin Smith’s Instagram revealed, and we’ve already spoken about this elsewhere, is that in the process of creating this film he has managed to re-unite with his long estranged friend, Ben Affleck. Even better for the fans, in a truly heartwarming post which you can read above, he also mentions that re-uniting with Ben has allowed him to work an 8 or so script page sequel to Chasing Amy into this film. This leaves me with mixed feelings in that while Chasing Amy was an excellent film and I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of what happens to these characters, I felt like it ended where it should have. It was a somewhat unsatisfying downer of an ending, but sometimes that’s what life gives you. Since Chasing Amy was one of Kevin Smiths more “grounded in reality” films, it seemed appropriate. I should also mention that Joey Lauren Adams has said she will be reprising her role as Alyssa Jones in this film.

Matt Damon?

Matt Damon had previously appeared in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in a cameo as himself filming Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season. When I first saw him pop up in the trailer I thought maybe they were going to continue that gag, but when I noticed he was sitting in a church I had to raise my eyebrow a little. Soon enough my suspicions had been confirmed when yet again Kevin Smith posted on instagram (geez you might as well just stop reading this and follow him already) that Matt Damon would in fact be reprising the role of the fallen angel Loki, whom he had originally played in the movie Dogma. Interestingly enough this wasn’t the plan from the beginning. Kevin said in the post that Matt had agreed to sign on before he really knew what he was going to do with him, probably a repeat of last time. It was actually his wife Jennifer Schwalbach Smith that suggested following up on Dogma, since-Do you really need to put out a spoiler alert for a 20 year old film? If you haven’t seen it already, then you probably won’t-Loki dies at the end of that movie, I’m looking forward to seeing what manner of plot armor has protected him.

A Clerks Tie In? Duh!

If Jay and Silent Bob are the only true constant in the Askiewniverse, the Quick Stop and its employees are the next closest thing. It should come as no surprise that the opening scene of the trailer features the oh-so-familiar building in the background… Although it would appear that RST Video has been replaced by an unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, it is New Jersey after all) named Fried Chicken restaurant. It has also been confirmed that Dante Hicks and Becky Scott, played by Brian O’Halloran and Rosario Dawson, will be in the film. Jeff Anderson, the actor who plays Randal, as of the time I’m writing this, has no involvement and seems to be on the outs with View Askew.

More On the Movie Itself

As we’ve said before, the film seems to borrow much of its plot and touch on several of the beats from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. There are some new additions however, Kevin’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith (of Yoga Hosers fame) will be playing Jay’s, yes that’s right, Jay’s daughter. Apparently Jay knocked up his love interest from Strike Back, Justice (played by Shannon Elizabeth), and she’s decided that she is coming along for the ride this time. Another interesting thing is that this is the first Askewniverse film to be released since the launch of the MCU. Given that the characters in these movies are almost invariably comic book nerds you can be sure that this is something that will be referenced quite a bit. In the trailer we even get to see some Iron Man influenced shenanigans, not to mention Chris Hemsworth. Speaking of celebrities…

This Movie is Star-Studded As Hell

The original had a pretty star-heavy cast and this one looks to follow suit. In addition to everyone we’ve mentioned previously, the trailer includes: Val Kilmer, Method Man and Redman, Melissa Benoist, Joe Manganiello, Donnell Rawlings, Tommy Chong, Craig Robinson, Fred Armisen, Jason Biggs, James Van Der Beek, Brian Quinn (AKA Q from Impractical Jokers). It even has a cameo from one of my all time favorite pro wrestlers, Chris Jericho. I’m sure I could go on.

In Conclusion

Well I hope you can see why I’m excited for this film now… Hell I hope you’re excited for it now too! It looks like this film is going to be the Askewniverse’s very own Infinity War. Let me just say, the original gets a lot of flack for not having the depth or complexity that most other movies in this universe have, but if you’re able to turn your mind off and just appreciate the laughs it’s still quite the joyride. Given what I’ve seen and heard so far, Jay and Silent Bob: Reboot is looking to strike up a healthy balance between the more fun and frivolous entries in the series, and the more deep and introspective ones. Probably skewed a bit more towards fun and frivolous, but still… I’m looking forward to it more than any movie I can think of in a long time.

TL;DR… I’m Excited, But You Suck For Not Reading

It’s not a true reboot, but it follows the same plot as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
It will tie in with Mallrats at least a bit
There’s a Chasing Amy sequel worked into this film
There is also a follow up to Dogma in this film
And Clerks 2, minus Randal
Celebrities, celebrities everywhere
Kevin Smith’s daughter is in it, playing the role of Jay’s daughter, good one Kev.
There is a parody of Iron Man
Screw it. Just watch the trailer