Stoner Movie Reviews: Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

If you’re a diehard Kevin Smith fan and/or a Stoner over 30, then you are probably at least vaguely familiar with Jay & Silent Bob. This stoner duo from the 1990’s have faded into the “where are they now?” columns in recent times.

Earth shattering events like the Kennedy assassination and 9/11 effect mass consciousness deeply, so deeply everyone that was alive to witness the horrifying media coverage of those events remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing that fateful day for the rest of their lives. The exact opposite is true for this movie and any other Kevin Smith film.

For the benefit of those readers under 30 currently scratching their heads, wondering who Jay & Silent Bob are. Well, director Kevin Smith, who also plays the character Silent Bob, made a bunch of teen movies during the 1990’s and was fond of interchanging characters in different films, kind of like the X-Men franchise these days.

Jay & Silent Bob were bit part stoners that featured in virtually all his movies. Jay is the foul-mouthed one and Silent Bob is the quiet one. In 2001 they got their very own film, which is a stoner buddy movie of sorts.

The premise is the duo must go on a road trip from New Jersey to Hollywood to prevent the production of a movie called “Bluntman & Chronic”, which is based on them. So they decide to hitchhike and get into all kinds of trouble on the journey.

Some consider this a stoner classic and that’s really a matter of taste. If you don’t have any, you might believe this to be so. The nostalgia bug is seemingly becoming an epidemic with the plethora of reboots and rehashings of genuine modern classics. Kevin Smith won’t have to worry about any future directors revisiting his catalogue fishing for ideas.

Aging Poorly: A Film That Just Isnt Funny

Jay & Silent Bob is 100 minutes of low-brow humour, that really has not aged well. The jokes and gags are cheap and stale. For a movie actually crammed with Hollywood actors and actresses most of whom were considered A-Listers at the time it still falls flat. Plenty of familiar faces and the usual suspects of the Kevin Smith universe pop in and deliver a cameo, and presumably hit the exit after shooting one take, with a healthy pay cheque for a few minutes of face time.

The biggest problem with Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back is it has so many out of date references and cringe worthy homages to blockbusters of the era like the Matrix. We understand that Jay & Silent Bob are idiots and parodies of stoners not to be taken seriously, but they are just not funny. Even after a decent helping of Sour Diesel, the jokes failed to raise a smile.

Give this one a miss if Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back is just now popping up on your stoner movie radar. Similarly, even if you enjoyed this the first time round, do yourself a favour and leave the DVD on the shelf, this has absolute zero to offer the adult you, trust us.

If you want to watch a modern stoner classic from this era, then check out “Billy Madison”. This will take you back to a time when Adam Sandler was unbelievably funny. Although he doesn’t obviously get baked on camera, Billy Madison is the perfect movie to watch over a few spliffs. This will have you laughing out loud and doesn’t feel dated. Billy Madison is infinitely more relatable and humorous than the pretentious cigarette smoking fools conjured up by Kevin Smith.

			Written by: Top-Shelf Grower Veteran cannabis cultivator originally from Dublin, Ireland and currently on the loose in southern Spain. 100% committed to Top-Shelf reporting until captured or killed.
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