Blu-ray review: Kevin Smith 3-Movie Collection (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back)
We look at Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back on Blu-ray
The newly released Kevin Smith three-movie box set contains the popular director’s three most popular films in beautiful Blu-ray quality. Containing his debut Clerks, along with Chasing Amy and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Smith’s new box set captures a lot of crap you missed the first time around.
Kevin Smith is usually a big hit with internet writers thanks in part to his humble origin, legendary (or hyped, depending on who you ask) beginnings and his rather soft physique. He also represents the film/comic book/video game subculture, which has made serious strides to becoming a mainstream, high covered phenomenon on the verge of losing its trademark and sarcasm.
Or he just makes funny movies.
The legend of Kevin Smith is a classic American success story. A film school reject, Smith decided to break away from schools, books and teacher’s dirty looks and make his own movie based on his own vision. Armed with a ton of credit cards, which he later maxed, he and a group of his friends decided to film Clerks. The black-and-white cheap independent film was made for $27,575 and quickly became an underground hit though, again, depending on who you ask, Smith’s Clerks was also marketed this way too by Miramax.
Audiences get their first look at Smith’s reoccurring titular characters Jay and Silent Bob (played by Smith) as they hang out in front of a local convenience store. The story revolves around Dante, a convenience store employee who is called in to work even though it was originally his day off. Together, with his pal and next door neighbor Randall, the two spend their time pondering Star Wars labor rights, fellatio jokes along with complaining about customers. One ruse and a definition of snowballing later, a hockey game breaks out on the roof.
Clerks dialogue is the film’s strength. That’s an easy call to make since the acting is a bit rough around the edges which is evident by the rapid-fire, no-breath conversations. Not only was Smith’s script the main star, it was also used by his enemies, namely the MPAA.
The film was originally given an NC-17 rating by MPAA, but was later busted down to an R after Miramax hired a civil liberties lawyer.
Ye olde legend goes on to note that the VHS version of the film became one of the most stolen videotapes in the United States.
Chasing Amy, Smith’s third film, was the director’s first foray into subject matter that didn’t primarily revolve around fart jokes. Starring Ben Affleck, Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams, the filmed earned $12 million at the box office and wound up on a number of critics’ year-end best lists, and won two Independent Spirit Awards (screenplay and supporting actor for Lee). Chasing Amy is arguable Smith’s best work thanks to the rarity of authentic emotion from his characters rather than pithy sarcasm.
Affleck, who’s in Smith’s Mallrats, plays Holden, a comic book artist who falls in love with Alyssa (Adams), a bi-sexual who Holden takes for a strict lesbian. As the two hang out, Holden’s man-feelings grow to the point where he has to spill his love guts to her. An argument ensues, she tells him he’s a jerk (paraphrase) because he told her all that she’s a lesbian so, yeah, not much she can do about it. Or is there?
Holden’s pal Banky (Lee) doesn’t like Alyssa and he sure as hell doesn’t like his buddy spending all his time pining for her. Once Banky discovers that Alyssa had a threesome (man included) in high school, Banky races back to tell Holden.
All hell breaks loose as well as a fantastic performance from Joey Lauren Adams.
The last entry in this Blu-ray set is Smith’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The film focuses on Smith’s running joke characters who have played support in his films. The feature acts as a road trip comedy and revolves around Jay and Silent Bob heading to Hollywood to stop production on the big-screen adaptation of Bluntman and Chronic, the comic book heroes from Chasing Amy that were representations of themselves.
All in all, this Blu-ray set is a must-have for Kevin Smith fans but the absence of Mallrats and the brilliant Dogma is bothersome. So is the lack of special features on the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back disc.
Aspect ratio:
- Clerks: 1.85:1
- Chasing Amy: 1.85:1
- Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back: 2.35:1
Video for all three films:
- 1080p HD
Sound:
- Clerks: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA
- Chasing Amy: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital
- Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back: English 5.1 Uncompressed, English/French 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles:
- Clerks: English SDH, Spanish
- Chasing Amy: English SDH, Spanish
- Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back: English SDH, French
Clerks Extras:
- Introduction By Kevin Smith
- “Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party: The Making of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back“
- Theatrical Version of the Film
- Classic Commentary (1995)
- Enhanced Playback Track – synchronized trivia and cast & crew quotes
- “The First Cut” Version
- Kevin Smith Intro (2004)
- “The First Cut” Audio Commentary (with New Authoring / 3 viewing modes)
- Clerks: The Lost Scene – Animated Short
- “The Flying Car”
- Clerks Restoration
- Original Auditions
- “Snowball Effect: The Story of Clerks”
- Outtakes From “Snowball Effect”
- “Mae Day: The Crumbling Of A Documentary” With Intro By Kevin Smith And Scott Mosier
- 10th Anniversary Q & A
- MTV Spots With Jay & Silent Bob
- Soul Asylum “Can’t Even Tell” Music Video
- Theatrical Trailer
Chasing Amy Extras:
- “Tracing Amy: The Chasing Amy Doc”
- “Was It Something I Said?” – A Conversation With Kevin & Joey
- 10 Years Later Q & A – With Kevin Smith And The Cast
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Actor Kevin Smith and Producer Scott Mosier
- Deleted Scenes
- Outtakes
- Trailer
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Extras:
- Audio Commentary – Director Kevin Smith, Producer/Editor Scott Mosier & Jason Mewes
