Actually, the reason Smith is mad at Burton is because when Burton was named the director of Superman Lives he gave the thumbs down to the script Smith had written, which was the only one anyone liked at the time. So now no script at all pretty much. It’s possible the Pee-Wee scenes were a tribute to PEE-WEE you know!
You guys are catching some good ones, I gotta see it again for sure. (I missed too much the first time because the friend I went with bought me a bucket sized soda, against all my protests, so guess where I ended up every 20 minutes? :rolleyes: )
That explains it. If most of the big jokes are references to other movies, this movie would seem to be aimed squarely at Kevin Smith fans. As I am not in that group, I would have been better off elsewhere.
My movie geek friends (this is not meant as an insult; I consider myself a movie geek) had already made the suggestion that I go back and see the other movies. Ain’t gonna happen. I’m not going to watch three movies just so that I can go back to a movie I didn’t much care for the first time and appreciate it more.
IMO, a movie should be good on it’s own terms. Strange Brew is funny even if you know nothing about Hamlet, but it’s a lot funnier if you know the play and can pick out the references. I’m not saying that Jay and Bob is bad, but it should come with a “For those who’ve seen the other Kevin Smith films only” warning.
By the way, is this a sequel? My friends who recommended it said it isn’t, but it sure felt like one.
I’ve seen it twice and loved it. I was fortunate enough to have seen it those two days in a row. A mini-poster on the way to me. Number Six, it’s not technically a sequel, as it’s a story separate from the other films. However, the main plot is a take off of some stuff that happens in Chasing Amy.
It’s very true that fans of Kevin Smith’s other films (or people that have at least seen them) will get a lot more out of it. But that’s not the reason you should go back and watch Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Dogma…you should watch them because they’re really great movies. Though some might not like Mallrats as much, it’s pretty funny, too.
The things I caught:
-The poster whose SN is “MagnoliaFan” is a reference to Kevin Smith’s long-time feud with writer/director P. T. Anderson
-There’s a Buddy Christ statue (from Dogma) on Carrie Fisher’s dashboard
-Jay also wears a Quick-Stop “uniform”
-Steve-Dave wears the Mallrats t-shirt he wore in the original openning of Chasing Amy (and Steve-Dave wears the oh-so-sweet hockey jersey that I own as well)
-When Jay & Silent Bob are running through the backlots there is a guy in a Daredevil suit that gets knocked over
-“Ratface”, who is the production designer for this and other View Askew flicks, reprises the role of the cop he had in Dogma when he arrests Jay & Silent Bob. In Dogma, he was the guy that got his neck snapped.
-The article behind the counter of Brodie’s comic shop shows him hosting the Tonight Show (from Mallrats)
-Trish the Dish from Mallrats talks to Alyssa from Chasing Amy about why they didn’t make a Chasing Amy movie
-Dante and Randal getting married might be a reference to an episode of Clerks: The Animated Series, where it showed them getting married
-Banky talking about how he doesn’t kiss guys (“Despite what you may have heard…”) is a reference to Chasing Amy
-Affleck & Damon’s line about doing a movie because your friend says you owe them is, I think, a reference to them not thanking Kevin in their Academy Awards thank you speech (Kevin & Scott exec-produced Good Will Hunting and were instrumental in getting it made)
-Holden’s greeting to Jay & Bob was Jay’s greeting to him in Chasing Amy
-Brodie’s stink-palm is from Mallrats (pretty obvious reference, but one all the same)
-There were the characters from Reservoir Dogs walking through the backlots
-Scott Mosier was also the AD for Good Will Hunting 2 (the guy who says “Just react, don’t say anything. Especially you.”)
-The Utility Belt from Mallrats is used again
-Jay’s line “Flea fat-ass, flea!” is a take-off on his line from Mallrats: “Fly fat-ass, fly!”
-All of the Mooby stuff (like the kid’s Pat-Pat hat and such) references Dogma
-The Starwars references: the “Griedo shooting first” line and Mark Hamill’s lines about fighting a Jedi and “Not again…” to getting his hand cut off (besides the fact that it was Mark Hamill)
-Jay’s “Hetero life-partner” line is also from Dogma
-Wes Craven makes a cameo, which is returning a favor for Jay & Silent Bob’s cameo in Scream 3
-Judd Nelson plays the sheriff; he was cast partially (if not mainly) because of the references to John Hughs’s movies in Dogma
Well, that’s all I can think of for now. Dang…and that’s a lot of them.
I can’t believe nobody mentioned my favorite half-reference…
Just after the “escape from the diner” scene… when Jay, Silent Bob, and Suzanne dive into the sewer opening, that was very reminiscent of the “escape from the detention block” scene in Star Wars.
Or maybe I’m just seeing things. I coulda SWORN I saw a Star Destroyer in the background…
Yes, it’s aimed at Kevin smith fans, though. This is a strength and a weakness of the movie, as those who’ve never ever heared of Clerks or Chasing Amy are gonna find themselves scratching their heads through a lot of the film.
Captain Obvious sez: The scene in the pipe where the monkey pulls Jay And Silent Bob over the edge to escape arrest is a parody of The Fugitive.
Montfort: I thought Smith was dating/engaged to the blond from Chaising amy. I need to catch up on my gossip.
silent_rob, truly kick ass. A quick note, to expand on the Judd Nelson thing. Not onlt do they mention John Hughs’s movies in Dogma, but Jay and Silent Bob also single out Judd’s character.
Nah, they broke up soon after the release of Chasing Amy. I think. That’s why Joey Lauren Adams wasn’t in Dogma and only had a cameo appearance in J&SBSB.
When they go visit Affleck-as-Mallrats character in the beginning, they visit the Internet Poop Shoot movie site. This looks exactly like http://www.aintitcool.com. Apparently they talk jack about Kevin Smith at that site and it has irked (or amused or whatever) Kevin Smith in the past. Also, when Affleck describes the Internet to him, his speech is somewhat reminiscent of Obi Wan’s speech about the force. Affleck says something along the lines of “The Internet is a worldwide network which binds together computers…” and Obi Wan says “The force is an energy field which binds together all living things.” Then again, I may be hallucinating. Also, I did think the dive into the sewers thing was reminiscent of Star Wars.
Also, they poke fun at many Affleck movies (Phantoms, [iReindeer Games*, Forces of Nature) which were all I think made by Miramax.
They went together because they are sisters (Trisha Jones and Alyssa Jones). There third sister, Heather, was in Clerks and went to the beach with Rick Darris.
I have to agree that this movie was really funny. Yes, you get more out of it if you have actually seen the other four movies, but it’s not necessary. My fiancée had only seen Dogma and Mallrats (in that order) previously to seeing this one. She’s never seen Clerks, and we saw Chasing Amy afterwards. She didn’t get a lot of the Smith references, but she agreed that it was a very funny film. There was plenty of sight gags and off color humor to keep you laughing, even if you had never heard of Jay and Silent Bob.
I plan on buying this movie when it comes out on DVD. I’d love to get Clerks on DVD, but at the local Best Buy and Hastings it is about $35 (as is Blues Brothers) and I can’t figure this out. Anyone got an idea?
Tars, I just saw Chasing Amy and Alyssa said that her ‘Friend’ had sex with a dead guy, not her sister. Unless I’m not thinking of the right Clerks girl.
I think alot of the stuff that’s mentioned as “references” to Smith’s other movies are not so much references as part of the View Askew Universe that they live in, if that makes sense.
Oh, and the “Magnolia Fan” bit… it did arise from Smith’s differences with PT Anderson’s stuff, but more directly, over the controversy that arose on his WWW board (which I read regularly) after Magnolia was released. He didn’t like it, and a bunch of Anderson supporters logged onto his board and bashed him. It was really great to see so much of the WWW board stuff make it into the movie.
Actually, Affleck was reprising his Chasing Amy character, Holden, not his Mallrats character, Shannen.
Also, has anybody visited Viewaskew.com lately? There is an angry note from Kevin Smith talking about these “fuckers at Movie Poop Shoot.com” or something like that. He provides a link, and when you go there it looks just like the message board site they were looking at in the movie, with all the same message titles and everything. But the links on the message board lead you to clips from the movie.
It is somewhat humorous, but then I probably just ruined it for everybody. Ooops.
