I go up to the top of theater, the absolute furthest row in the back of theater. I picked this seat specifically. My shoes making that peeling noise as I walk on the sticky floor. I find my seat, on the floor next to me is a small pile of spilled popcorn from an earlier showing. I am in a movie theater in Times Square, one of only a few theaters playing the sneak preview of Jay & Silent Bob Reboot. On the screen there is some pre show trivia about the View Askewniverse films. I have butterflies in my stomach. To understand why I need to tell you about my childhood.
I grew up in the 90s. A time before the internet was what it is today. We didn’t have Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit, hell, we didn’t even have MySpace yet. I was an odd kid, I learned to read from comic books my mom would buy me at the supermarket. I loved Batman. My earliest memories are of my mom renting some old VHS tapes of the Adam West Batman show from the small mom and pop video store near our house. I watched those tapes so much that my mom ended up buying copies.
As I became a preadolescent, I would buy random comics from the grocery store. Until one day, I was leaving a small music store on Monmouth Street, in Red Bank, NJ, where my parents were attempting to get me music lessons, when I saw it. A comic book store. I went in and kept going in, buying random comics. The owner finally asked me one day, “Hey man, I see you coming in here getting all these random comics, do you know what’s going on in those?”
I said no, “I like the covers. “
“So you’re telling me, you have no idea what’s happening in the books you buy?”
I nodded.
He knew I liked Batman. So he went to work and picked out some of the essentials. Without Kevin Smith, I would never have been exposed to Frank Miller’s Batman Year One, or the Dark Knight Returns. I would never have read John Byrne’s 1986 run of Superman and much more. Until I met Kevin Smith I had no idea there were other people who loved comic books just as much as me. I had no idea there were people who would nerd out over movies, dissecting every little detail of Star Wars. Kevin Smith helped me find my tribe. No disrespect to my father, but Kevin Smith very much helped me become the man I am today. Now I’m 31, living in New York, working in tv and film, and I’m in a movie theater in Times Square about you to watch a movie, that was made by a man, who I greatly admire.
Now, Jay and Silent Bob reboot is a stupid, silly, and amazingly heartwarming love letter from Kevin Smith to us, his fanbase. If you are seeking deep, thought provoking, “kino”, Reboot is not for you. If are a fan of Smith’s filmography, you will love this.
There are Easter eggs a plenty for long time Smith fans, fans of movies, and fans of comic books in general. Reboot has no shortage of celebrity cameos, raunchy and sexual humor, and in true Smith fashion, it’s all wrapped around a warm newly healthy heart.
Jason Mews shines, showing that he does in fact have a bit of range. The dynamic between Harley Quinn Smith and Mews is unexpectedly good and even the most cynical of us may squirt out a tear or two. Ben Affleck's cameo sums up the heart of the movie.
All in all, I loved this movie. If you will like it depends on your sense of humor and your relationship to Smith’s filmography.
I give Jay & Silent Bob Reboot a 9/10
