There's an absolute tragedy that becomes apparent when watching this film.
In amongst all the stoner jokes and self referential humour - most of which falls flat, I'll be honest - Kevin Smith has a scene that throws back to what I consider to be his greatest work: 1997's Chasing Amy.
In the scene - SPOILERS by the way - Jay and Silent Bob run into the character of Holden McNeil, Ben Affleck's character from AMY. It gets revealed that Holden and Alyssa became very good friends, and Holden becomes the surrogate father of Alyssa's daughter. It works, trust me.
Holden then goes on to speak about the merits of becoming a father, how life has changed and, more importantly, how his perspective on life has changed. It's a quiet, introspective and truly beautiful moment nestled in amongst a lot of craziness.
Even though I still count myself as a Kevin Smith fan, I haven't enjoyed a lot of what he has produced in a very long while. Yogahosers should never have been seen by audiences, TUSK was Smith being incredibly amused by his own nonsense, his Batman comics were just terrible and I got completely sick of his podcasts. But I kept going back. Mostly because I was hoping to see some of the creativity and brilliance that Kevin could do when he put his mind to it.
And I knew he could do it. Chasing Amy proved it, his runs on Green Arrow and Daredevil proved it, Red State proved it. The man is a natural born storyteller. Just listen to him talk in his many youtube videos. That's a gift, and one that does not come lightly.
And that's where the tragedy of J&SB: Reboot comes in. Because right there, in amongst a bunch of guys who are nearly 50 and should stop pretending otherwise is this wonderful moment that proves - beyond any shadow of doubt - that that incredible creativity, intelligence and sincerity is still there.
I still truly believe that Kevin Smith has at least one more brilliant piece of work in him. And I hope that he one day finds the courage to create that. But maybe all we can hope for is these brief moments that show just want a talented individual he is.
In amongst all the stoner jokes and self referential humour - most of which falls flat, I'll be honest - Kevin Smith has a scene that throws back to what I consider to be his greatest work: 1997's Chasing Amy.
In the scene - SPOILERS by the way - Jay and Silent Bob run into the character of Holden McNeil, Ben Affleck's character from AMY. It gets revealed that Holden and Alyssa became very good friends, and Holden becomes the surrogate father of Alyssa's daughter. It works, trust me.
Holden then goes on to speak about the merits of becoming a father, how life has changed and, more importantly, how his perspective on life has changed. It's a quiet, introspective and truly beautiful moment nestled in amongst a lot of craziness.
Even though I still count myself as a Kevin Smith fan, I haven't enjoyed a lot of what he has produced in a very long while. Yogahosers should never have been seen by audiences, TUSK was Smith being incredibly amused by his own nonsense, his Batman comics were just terrible and I got completely sick of his podcasts. But I kept going back. Mostly because I was hoping to see some of the creativity and brilliance that Kevin could do when he put his mind to it.
And I knew he could do it. Chasing Amy proved it, his runs on Green Arrow and Daredevil proved it, Red State proved it. The man is a natural born storyteller. Just listen to him talk in his many youtube videos. That's a gift, and one that does not come lightly.
And that's where the tragedy of J&SB: Reboot comes in. Because right there, in amongst a bunch of guys who are nearly 50 and should stop pretending otherwise is this wonderful moment that proves - beyond any shadow of doubt - that that incredible creativity, intelligence and sincerity is still there.
I still truly believe that Kevin Smith has at least one more brilliant piece of work in him. And I hope that he one day finds the courage to create that. But maybe all we can hope for is these brief moments that show just want a talented individual he is.