Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a really weird movie to review for me. Usually when you’re trying to review a movie, you tend to focus on the broader, technical, more “objective” (for lack of a better word) aspects of the movie, in order to inform the broadest possible audience about whether or not a movie is worth watching. Sharing personal feelings/attachments towards a movie is fine as a bonus, but it has a tendency to alienate people that don’t share that same experience with you, and so it only really informs people on why a movie worked for you, rather than if it will also work for them. There is utility in that, of course, but it’s typically only useful as a supplemental tool to the broader discussion on the movie.

However, I just can’t review Jay and Silent Bob Reboot from a broad perspective, because it’s not a movie that’s made for a broad audience. This is such a niche movie that it’s weird to review in the first place, because you’re probably already interested if you’re the target audience, and will have no interest if you’re not. Kevin Smith movies already have a tendency to only really appeal to a niche audience, but Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is really only appealing to those that have watched those other movies. So, with that, I want to say that I’m only going to recommend that you check out Jay and Silent Bob Reboot if you’re a fan of the Kevin Smith movies…otherwise don’t bother. If you’re interested in trying out a Kevin Smith movie, start out with one of the classics like Clerks or Mallrats.

Even my viewing experience of the movie was personalized. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot didn’t get a wide theatrical release. Instead, Kevin Smith decided to take the movie on a road tour, showing the movie at different theaters around the country. I attended one of these viewings in Philadelphia, and so my experience likely influenced my enjoyment. I was in a theater of diehard Kevin Smith fans, and we all got experience the movie together. Not only that, but Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes were there to present the movie, and so we got to see them in person. It’s a very rare experience to have the stars of a movie at your theater to introduce and talk about the movie with, so I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that this somewhat influenced the time I had with it.

Anyway, it’s been 13 years since Clerks II came out, which is the last time we’ve seen Jay and Silent Bob in a movie. So, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is the long-awaited return of the beloved stoner duo. It’s more of a sequel to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back than anything else, but considering that movie itself was a culmination of all of the ones that came before it, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is essentially going that same route, incorporating characters and storylines from other Kevin Smith movies. The basic gist here is that Bluntman and Chronic are being rebooted, and it’s up to Jay and Silent Bob to stop the reboot from happening. Is it essentially the same plot as Strike Back? Yeah. That is definitely the closest movie to Reboot, and so I’d say your enjoyment of Strike Back will be a pretty big indicator on whether or not you’ll like Reboot.

To go back to that earlier discussion of how I try to talk about “broad, technical aspects” of a movie, I had the thought while watching Jay and Silent Bob Reboot that the movie really isn’t that good if you’re looking at it through an objective lens. But then again, most Kevin Smith movies really aren’t. The directing is usually sloppy at times, the jokes are immature, and the performances are never really all that good. I’m not saying that these movies are bad (God knows I’m a fan of them), just that they’ve never really been cinematic masterpieces, so I don’t hold it against Reboot that these aspects still aren’t in full swing. This movie has that quality of “a movie that your friend made that you enjoy because you know all of the people involved.” Most of the movie’s humor relies on you knowing its inside jokes, which is why I mentioned that you kind of have to be a fan to enjoy this.

I bring all of this up because I’m not going to ever defend Jay and Silent Bob Reboot as some landmark in the comedy genre. It’s not. But what I will say is that I personally really enjoyed myself watching it. It felt like being back with old friends, and most of the jokes resonated with me. I think what I actually appreciated most about the movie, though, is that it winds up providing a great deal of closure on certain things. Not in the sense that this is the last we’ll ever see of any of these characters, but moreso that there have always been things that I wondered what happened later on with these movies, and Reboot actually addresses a lot of them. My favorite example of this is a scene where we see Ben Affleck’s character, Holden, from Chasing Amy. This scene gives an amazing continuation of Holden’s character, and winds up being one of my favorite scenes in the movie because of it. There are plenty of examples of this, and so it’s just nice to see what some of these characters have been up to. It gives you a rewarding sensation for being a fan of these movies.

Even as someone that loves these movies, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is never perfect in the way that something like Clerks II is for me. It’s not one of my all-time favorite Kevin Smith movies, but I did still really enjoy it. As a whole, I thought that the second half was much better than the first half, which feels kind of awkward at times. However, the second half more than makes up for it, and actually provides a surprising amount of heart. Ultimately, I was just happy to hang out with these characters once again. It’s been a long time since we’ve last seen them, and so it was great to experience some of the joy that I first felt when I discovered these films in high school. I basically only recommend this movie to people that are as in love with Kevin Smith movies as I am, but for those that are Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a fun return.

3.5/5