One of my major complaints with 2016's Yoga Hosiers (still the worst film of his career) was that it felt like it was made for his daughter, her friends, and there was no point of access for anyone else. Milly forces Jay and Bob to escort her and her group of friends to ChronicCon and Jay struggles with holding back his real connection. Along the way, Jay and Bob discover that Jay's old flame Justice (Shannon Elizabeth) has had a daughter, Millenium "Milly" Falcon (Harley Quinn Smith) and Jay is the father. The stoner duo, older and not so much wiser, chart a cross-country trip to California to attend ChronicCon and thwart the filming of the new movie, directed by none other than Kevin Smith (himself). Hollywood is rebooting the old Bluntman and Chronic superhero movie from 2001, this time in a dark and edgy direction, and since Jay and Silent Bob are the inspirations for those characters, even their likenesses and names now belong to the studio. Jay (Jason Mewes) and his hetero life mate Silent Bob (Smith) are out for vengeance once again. He's created his own little sphere with a fervent fanbase, so does he need to strive for a larger audience with any forthcoming movies or does he simply exclusively serve the existing crowd? It's been 25 years since Clerks originally debuted and showcased Smith's ribald and shrewd sense of dialogue-driven, pop-culture-drenched humor. Is strictly made for writer/director Kevin Smith's fanbase, so does trying to play outside this cultivated audience even matter? Honestly, there's no way this is going to be anyone's first Smith movie, so it's already running on an assumed sense of familiarity with the characters and stories of old, which is often a perquisite to enjoying many of the jokes (more on this later). I'm saying that as a Smith fan who got a lot of the jokes, but I had a ton of fun with it. But is the movie funny? In my opinion, yes, it's one of Smith's funniest. It's a unique almost meta way to address the faults of your past as an artist, and it actually really works. Even Smith is aware of this, having his problematic characters like Jay be forced to deal with their behavior in a modern climate. I'm not out their shouting "cancel!", but it does make watching them now awkward. As much as I love them, some of his past works are a little problematic in today's climate. He even takes time to correct the mistakes of his past. Self-indulgent to the extreme, it's also strangely heartwarming and touching at times with Smith reflecting on his time as a filmmaker and parent through his characters. And honestly…I really liked this movie! It's one of Smith's best. This isn't for Smith newcomers, and honestly I can't fault him for that. But Smith has been open about this, he made this for his fans, and no one else. But I very much acknowledge it is a film for the fans to a fault. If you have been following Smith's career and do listen to his podcasts and watch his other works, you'll get the jokes and love the nods. The film should practically come with a Kevin Smith guidebook. A film for Kevin Smith fans in the truest sense, this is not just a Jay and Silent Bob film, this is an everything Kevin Smith film referencing his whole View Askewniverse with epilogues to past films, along with nods to his podcasts, his other shows like Comic Book Men, his tenure on the CW, hell even his own personal life and turn to veganism.
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