Average Rating: 
Rating:  - "Your mother's a tracer!"
Kevin Smith's third film in the View Askewniverse series follows the pursuit of lesbian-comic artist, Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), by fellow comic artist Holden Mcneil (Ben Affleck). The film mainly focuses on their progressing relationship and it's effects on everyone around them, including Holden's best friend and co-artist (Or inker, or tracer, whatever you want to call him) Banky (Jason Lee). Throughout the film, many twists are presented and many shocking revelations are made. If you haven't been told the whole story of the movie, you won't read it here, because I will not ruin it for you. This is my favorite Kevin Smith film for one reason: It's REAL. It hits so close to home because I (as well as many other people) have had a relationship similar to the one between Holden and Alyssa. This movie is for anyone who has every felt insignificant or insecure in a relationship. The movie is honest and is not afraid to face defeat. Many people call it a romantic comedy, which it is not. Also, this is not a film about homosexuality. Alyssa's sexuality is merely a plot-point, which is proved by the fact that so many people can relate to this movie without dating a lesbian. This movie is basically a Kevin Smith drama. It has it's funny moments (and when they come around, they are hilarious, especially a conversation about Archie & Jughead's sexuality). Aside from it's light moments, its a very heavy film, and anyone who has ever experienced anything remotely similar will be glued to the screen. Kevin Smith is a master at dialogue. It's been said before that he is a lousy director and he can only set up the simplest of shots, but that's not the point. He knows his characters, he gets inside, and this is definetly his best movie to date. The DVD is excellent as well. It contains over a half-hour of deleted scenes and a very light-hearted, unconventional commentary. I recommend all Kevin Smith fans who have not seen it go out and buy this movie. Smith's attention to detail really paid off on this one.
Rating: - Full of touching insight and hilarious dialogue
Being in love is not a funny business. Far from it, there's absolutely nothing funny about being in love. Kevin Smith knows that, and demonstrates it with "Chasing Amy," a film of insightfulness and hilarity rolled up like one of Jay and Silent Bob's joints. This is a film of unparalleled comedic high, getting back to the simplicity of "Clerks," abandoning the studio element that brought down "Mallrats" from true greatness. It's a wonderful film that really shows Kevin Smith at his best; he knows people, dialogue, and more importantly, he knows what it's like to be a guy with all the stupid insecurities we have.Ben Affleck plays Holden McNeil in what will probably be his best performance until the next Kevin Smith movie puts him in a role like this. It's a tricky part because he goes through the biggest changes in the movie, but we always believe him. And when Holden falls head over heels for a pretty woman with the voice of a little girl begging for a pony named Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), things get really heated up between him and his best friend of 20 years, Banky (Jason Lee, in what I believed to be the best supporting performance of 1997). But things between this triangle aren't normal by any stretch because of a few simple but huge facts: Alyssa is a lesbian, through and through, and Banky could possibly be a self-loathing gay himself (a question never truly answered or directly addressed). This is all tense enough between them all, but it's when news of a possible 2 on 1 guy to girl group grope that Alyssa partook in surfaces that the movie takes on its true meaning. Holden isn't bothered by Alyssa being a lesbian turned hetero by any means, but the thought of her with men, having tons of experience makes him feel small, insecure, and downright weird. Why? All is revealed in the film, mostly during a scene with Jay and Silent Bob; yes, the scene everyone waits for is the second most pivotal scene in the film as Silent Bob finally opens up and we get a glimpse of the life so shrouded in muteness. Kevin Smith is perfect in his speech to Affleck, delivering every line like a memory recalled instead of dialogue written. If the message of the movie wasn't apparent before, it becomes obvious then, and it's perfect. Yeah, I make all of this sound serious, but the movie is as funny as any I've ever seen, ranking right up next to "Clerks," only surpassed by "Dogma." There are the usual "Star Wars" gags, most of which delivered in a hysterical speech from a wonderful character named Hooper (another homage to Steven Spielberg's brilliant "Jaws"), who we learn is a "reviled gay man, and to top that off he's a gay black man." The scene comes second in a series of relentlessly funny sequences that only take a halt for that incredibly touching scene in the stopped vehicle. Throughout the rest of the film, Smith's characters argue the sexuality of the Archie comics, compare injuries gained in assortedly hilarious shenanigans, ask questions with the tact of an SAT booklet, and discover skeeball. From start to finish funny, and constantly sprinkled with wonderful bits of emotion, "Chasing Amy" is a comedy in a class of its own: The Kevin Smith Class, which to date has only five films in it. I love the minorities.
Rating: - Chasing Amy
Kevin Smith's relationship comedy follows his low-budget splash debut Clerks and his... disappointment Mall Rats as the third part of a "New Jersey" trilogy. Set in Manhattan and the quiet Jersey shore city Red Bank (Smith's hometown), Chasing Amy follows the exploits of Holden (Ben Affleck) and Banky (Jason Lee), who produce the successful underground comic book Bluntman & Chronic, which is based on Smith's continuing characters Jay and Silent Bob. When Holden's pal Hooper (Dwight Ewell), a "militant" black artist (who sees a homosexual subtext in Archie comics!), introduces him to feminist cartoonist Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams) he is immediately attracted...and undeterred when he learns she is gay. Eventually, Holden convinces her to sleep with him, but that only complicates his relationship with Banky. Much as the film begins as a male-dominated fantasy of lesbian conversion, Holden's discovery of Alyssa's true past leads him into emotional tailspin and turns the film into an exploration of the absurdity of sexual politics. Smart and surprising, it deftly brings Smith back on track for the filmmaking potential he showed with Clerks.
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