Dope Dealers
The only characters to figure in all four of Kevin Smith’s previous pictures, Smith here gives the duo center stage in an effort to get them out of his system for good. Because of the weed references, most folks are comparing the pair to Cheech & Chong, but I found the ambience of this flick more akin to the old Hope & Crosby Road pictures. It has the same sense of we-know-this-is-a-movie goofiness and inside jokes, and despite the raunch factor, the characters maintain a certain innocence.
Back in Chasing Amy, it was revealed how cartoonists Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) made a deal with Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) to use their “intellectual property” as the basis of their hit comic-book Bluntman & Chronic. After getting evicted from their parking lot hangout by a restraining order, J&SB are enraged to find out that Edwards has sold the rights to the comic to Miramax without cutting them in. They’re even more enraged to learn that, via some new invention called the “internet”, fanboy cretins across the country have been posting insults about them. The duo decides to go to Hollywood and stop the film from being made.
On the road, the pair get involved with a team of sexy jewel thieves, a kidnapped orangutan, wacky law enforcement agents, wacky hitch-hikers, wacky nuns, wacky celebrity cameos – a lot of wackiness in general. Just about everybody that’s ever been in a Smith movie returns in bit parts. Some of it bombs, but most of it kills, mainly riding on the funny characters at the heart of the nonsense.
Fans should stick around through the credit scroll to listen to Afro Man’s “But I Got High” tune, Smith’s usual amusing “thank yous”, and a guest appearance by God.