Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019)

Directed by: Kevin Smith | 105 minutes | comedy | Actors: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Tommy Chong, Harley Quinn Smith, Joe Manganiello, Val Kilmer, Chris Hemsworth, Shannon Elizabeth, Rosario Dawson, Aparna Brielle, Jason Biggs, Ming Chen, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Mike Zapcic, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Ernest O’Donnell, Brian O’Halloran, Scott Schiaffo, Keith Coogan, Treshelle Edmond, Kevin Foster, Ralph Garman

Kevin Smith was once considered an up and coming talent. The American made gems like ‘Clerks’ and ‘Chasing Amy’, with which he proved that coarse humor and foul language went well with the pain that comes with an unattainable love or a hopeless job. Despite the adolescent guise, these films were layered stories about empathetic problems. Smith became increasingly famous and began to shift his field of work to include writing comic books and canning genre films.

Lately, he’s been working on the margins and doing what he likes. For example, he made the bizarre ‘Tusk’ in which an old sailor turned an annoying podcaster into a walrus(!) It can be. Because Smith probably wanted another hit in the cinema, he decided to reboot his 2001 stoner comedy ‘Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back’. Like many retellings, this new attempt should not have been necessary. In the Netherlands, this film appeared silently on the shelves of the digital video library. That is promising.

‘Jay and Silent Bob Reboot’ revolves around the eponymous title heroes, played by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith respectively. These two lap swans kill time smoking weed and loitering aimlessly. That changes when the duo is told that there will be a reboot of ‘Bluntman and Chronic’: the comic based on their lives and for which they have not given permission. The anti-heroes decide to go to Hollywood to stop the filming.

Smith has lost his edge in recent years and tries to score through ‘shock value’ (something about a gore transformation from man to walrus). With ‘Jay and Silent Bob Reboot’ he hopes to resuscitate his old success. That doesn’t work, but fans of the title heroes should give this film a chance. Smith has crammed a ton of cameos from famous Americans into his film and that’s nice. References to franchises such as ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Marvel Comics’ are also well thought out. Also, the popularity – and laziness – of reboots is ridiculed.

However, there is no such thing as a witty parody. The jokes are rude and the dialogues rude. Smith uses adolescent humor and you have to be in the mood for that. This film is a must for fans of the two anti-heroes and for fans of Smith’s older work. Not very sharp, but blunt. Also a trademark of this director.