Well hello Kevin Smith, you are joining the list which feels like the first time but I am sure there was a review of Chasing Amy way back in the first week of the lockdown that I and whoever is reading this have long since forgotten. I suspect that there will be more Kevin Smith to come in this list. Now I have no idea how the critics take Kevin Smith so lets have look shall we. For me this is quite low scoring as with more thought this may of got a few points more but I am still ahead of both of the other two with a 7.3 out of 10 from IMDb & 67% from Rotten Tomatoes. We are getting close to the one review which will change my attitude to getting on with this as this is feeling like this is going on forever but it will start to feel like a downhill slope after 16 more reviews. So, this Kevin Smith religious comedy stars quite a list of names to be honest, with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Salma Hayek, Jason Lee, Bud Cort, Jason Mewes, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock and of course Kevin Smith. With appearances from Smith’s universe of Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Scott Mosier, Dwight Ewell, Walt Flanagan and Bryan Johnson. Released in 1999 this comedy depicting characters from Heaven and Hell was always going to get a reaction from the Christian faith and there were protests that even Kevin Smith joined in with (yes this is true). With Smith usually producing a film on a shoe string this movie had a Budget of $10m and it went on to make $44m at the box-office so the small protest didn’t effect it that much. I am stalling a bit here as I am thinking about where to start with the plot.
Two fallen angels wander the earth Bartleby and Loki as they have been eternally banished from Heaven for insubordination after the inebriated Loki resigned as the Angel of Death. They are sent a newspaper with an article in it that tells them that a Church in New Jersey is rededicating the church to a Buddy Christ and offering anyone that walks through the arch during the rededication ceremony will be forgiven their sins and welcomed back into heaven. This will mean that God will have to take them back but more importantly fundamentally break the sacred law meaning that God can never be wrong which will destroy the entire universe and all existence. Unaware of this the boys plan a trip to New Jersey. Hearing of this plan Metatron goes to earth to contact what appears to be a random and despondent abortion clinic counsellor who is in fact the last scion (last blood relative of Christ) to stop the fallen angels from doing so. She will be aided by two prophets who will call themselves that before her. Little does she know that it is the stoners and drug-dealing Jay and Silent Bob. They run into the 13th Apostle called Rufus who also joins the quest along with Serendipity with Demons are working against them. With three little so and so’s on roller blades with hockey sticks, Azrael the demon and even the Excremental is sent to kill them. The excremental has a few names but I like the Golgothan or Shit Demon. So two angels are on the way to destroy the entire existence of everything the last scion doesn’t even know who they are two stoners are helping the quest and Azrael is somewhere in the middle not siding with Heaven or Hell on this one just here for the ride maybe. Where is God in all of this well that’s the thing she’s gone missing, she likes to visit earth in human form every now and again and she has gone off and not come back so no one really knows where she has got to. Well isn’t that a pickle to get into!
Kevin Smith always has lots of dialogue in his movies this is normally great to cover up the lack of budget and the speed of conversation can leave you laughing half a minute after everyone else. He sets up comedy to perfection. It is like he lights a fuse on one of the old fashioned round bombed then rolls it off into a wall, whilst you continue to walk down the stairs this bomb is rolling around in the walls falling into various gadgets and gizmos’. You continue to laugh at the jokes hitting you and then this one that started twenty minutes ago that you forgot about rolls out and explodes. Meaning you explode with laughter because this is funny stuff. If you haven’t watched the View Askew movie universe you really should and in the original order as they are hit after hit there is a dud here and there as Chasing Amy just doesn’t do it for me but the rest are hysterical and hand on heart if you haven’t seen them you have missed out. There is drug and sex humour along with movie and comic book references throughout but even without knowing that stuff it is still funny. Go treat yourself if you haven’t already.
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