CHASING AMY (1997 - Cert 18)

I was a very late arrival to the Kevin Smith party. I saw Dogma when I was a lot younger and can remember very little of it, in fact I'm sure I didn't really get it, I was just a teenage boy who liked Salma Hayek. By the time I got around to actually seeing Clerks (only a couple of months ago) it was getting embarrassing telling people that I thought of myself as a film buff but hadn't seen that so-called seminal classic. Once I had seen it I knew immediately what people had been banging on about all these years. I went into work the next day preaching it's virtues and quoting lines from it. One of my work mates mentioned that it is one of fiancé's favourite films, only bettered by one of Smith's other films, Chasing Amy. Next thing I know I've got the a copy of Chasing Amy on DVD passed on to me in exactly the same way that I force people to watch Shaun of the Dead. 'You have to see this'. and so it sat on one of my shelves for a couple of months, never being touched, rarely being considered. The truth is the front cover put me off.

It smacked of rom-com. The colour of the writing, all the characters on the cover, the woman taking up the majority of the space. The title combined with the imagery made it seem like There's Something About Mary, everyone after the same girl. It just didn't scream 'watch me'.

One lazy Sunday afternoon, the girlfriend and I needed something easy to watch to keep Monday morning at bay. She (a purveyor of the rom-com) reached for Chasing Amy and after a moment's pause, where I decided that if I had to watch a rom-com it may as well be one by Kevin Smith, I gave in.



Now that I've watched it, I'm disappointed by myself. Angry even. For allowing it to sit on a shelf, unwatched, for judging a book by it's cover. Due to my stupid film snob tendencies I was put off by an assumption, a rash one, and this meant that there was a delay in seeing one of the best films about relationships I have ever seen.

Clerks is good, very good, it's the one that everyone talks about and the film that saw Smith burst on to the scene, but Chasing Amy is better, it's braver, it's about something that not many people have tried to explore - The modern relationship, and the insecurities that come with it.

Ben Affleck is Holden, comic book artist, living and working with his best mate Banky (Jason Lee). All is good as their comic Bluntman and Chronic (based on Jay and Silent Bob of course) is a success. The only thing that is missing is the girl. Then he meets her, Alyssa, played by Joey Lauren Adams. She has it all, beautiful, smart, funny with an attitude. The only problem is she's a lesbian. Yes she likes girls. Don't be fooled into thinking it's a stupid, immature comedy about 'conversion' though, it's more about how sexual liberation and the modern obsession with openness has opened a whole can of worms, issues and insecurities. Ego's are dented, feelings are hurt, all because the people care and worry.

It's drenched in typical Kevin Smith dialogue. People speak how we all want to speak. I would love to bounce off other people with instant dry wit plucking an amusing simile out of thin air from my endless supply. It doesn't scream realism but it is great to watch. Highlights include a great exchange as to why women are to blame for men being bad at cunnilingus and why one character can't travel without taking an exhaustive porn collection. I know what you're thinking, it's a sex comedy. And to some extent it is, but not in an American Pie/Porkys guise. It's not a gross out comedy, more observational, like how you might imagine Jerry Seinfeld to be if he discovered sex all over again. And developed a potty mouth.

The quality in Smith's writing goes much further than just jokes and good speeches. Chasing Amy is a film that relies on, ok uses the well worn rom-com formula (i.e. guy meets girl, guy likes girl, guy get's girl, guy upsets girl, guy gets girl back, or does he?) but still manages to feel new and fresh. Part of that will be down to the irreverent humour, the unfamiliar behaviour of the characters for this genre, but a great deal of credit should go to Smith for creating a film with characters and situations that you really feel for. We aren't siding with the characters because convention tells us to do so, we are with them every step of the way because their insecurities are those that nag away at you when you first start seeing someone you really like. We have all been there. Amongst all the rough (and there is a lot of sweary sex banter) there are some gems, where you feel like you are getting an insight into the film maker's heart, none more so than when Silent Bob simply becomes Bob and the film get's it's title. It's a segment that all at the same time creates real emotional sympathy but also cuts straight to what the film is about and is trying to say. Smith's genius, acting and writing, making it all seem so easy.

It then digs deeper, much deeper than a couple trying to love each other against the odds, it addresses sexual tendencies and the prejudices that they create, the assumptions that we make everyday. The film constantly challenges what we believe and whether we could be accused of being homophobic or judging a book by it's cover. I consider myself to be very open-minded and accepting but I had to question myself a number of times as thoughts quickly jumped into my head. It's a remarkable achievement to have made something that has so many layers and says so much but on the face of it seems to be something quite simple and juvenile. Just like when Alyssa falls for Holden.

The screenplay also manages to stop Joey Lauren Adams' squeaky, whiny voice from grating by giving her enough interesting things to say that I didn't notice. That's unfair on Lauren Adams actually because she is very good in this. She has to be the loveable love interest at some points, a spunky independent lesbian at others and a bit of a bitch the rest of the time. It's a challenging role that she pulls off very well, despite that voice. The whole cast is very good to be fair, Ben Affleck before he went big on good form and proving that he can be engaging, we like him but we know he is making a pig's ear out of everything, Jason Lee as the best mate gets all the best lines, the along with Dwight Ewell camping it up as the gay representative, both there as comic relief but ultimately, as you quickly realise, there for much more than fluff round the edges, their superbly delivered dialogue makes you laugh immediately, then you have to stop to wonder whether you should really be laughing.

When I finished watching it, I said I thought it was one of the most important films I have ever seen. Although that might be over egging it slightly, it's the best example I have seen of a film exploring sexuality, questioning what society really thinks of homosexuality, the assumptions that we make everyday and, most importantly, what has happened to modern relationships through a generation of experimentation. Essentially it asks, and is reassuringly not arrogant enough to answer, whether we are ready for and actually better off because of sexual liberation.

See it.

CLERKS (1994 - Cert 18)

Have you ever been completely convinced that you've seen a film, sit down to re-watch it years later only to discover that you've never seen it before? Well this is exactly what happened to me with Clerks recently. I've gone through life thinking I've seen the film, all be it a very long time ago, and every time it has come up in conversation, every time I've read an article or a book that refers to it, I nod in acknowledgement. So as I flicked through the movie channels and came across it, I was flicked it on thinking to myself, 'it's about time I watched this again'.

Then it started, and it became clear that either my memory had completely gone or I had never watched the film in my entire life. It explained a lot actually. When I cast my mind back I realised that when people talked about their favourite moments in the movie, I tended to not be entirely sure what they were on about. Plus, I always had a complete indifference to the film, which one would obviously had if they hadn't actually seen it.



So now that I have finally got around to watching it, what did I think?

Well I loved it. It's clear to see why it became, and remains, a cult classic. It's original, there's nothing I've seen quite like it, in terms of set up, but also due to it's desert dry and pessimistic wit. Kevin Smith's script is a thing of genius. Nothing really happens in the film, it's just a day in the life of two store clerks in their early twenties, Brian O'Halloran (Dante) and Jeff Anderson (Randall). That's it. For a film with that little in terms of plot, the script has to be so tight and engaging to ensure that you keep the viewer on board. In fact, the only times that the film doesn't work are when the action is taken out of the store, such as the funeral scene. It's a shame because while the film stays grounded to the dull daily life, rather than extravagant plot points, it sucks you in and keeps you hooked.

So why is it so good? Well the dialogue for starters. It must be said that I don't honestly believe that many young men in New Jersey really talk like this, it suffers from what I call Dawsons Creek syndrome, but the patter between the characters is totally funny. Sardonic put downs and philosophical musings are all brilliant. The one that most people refer to is the debate about contract workers aboard the uncompleted Death Star. It's brilliantly deadpan and much of the film follows this tone and humour. Smith introduces other bit-part characters, such as the now famous in their own right Jay and Silent Bob, that bounce of the two 'heroes' and become foils for their patter. It's done tremendously with some wonderfully realised characters that all fit perfectly into the small insular world that Smith has created.

The other important thing about the film is the attitude that it summarises. The two lead characters are at a point in their lives when they should be thinking about growing up and what direction their life should take. However, both Dante and Randall struggle to know exactly what to do to kick on. Their are feelings of frustration, hopelessness, insecurity, self-doubt and fear that hold them back. I'm not saying that I went through a period in my life quite in the same way, but I'm sure we've all worried in the past about what we are going to do with our lives and what we might leave behind. It's a real triumph that Smith has managed to address this so poignantly and maturely in a film that on the surface seems to be merely a foul mouthed comedy.

It isn't going to be for everyone, it is very, very raw (what do you expect for $27,500?), a lot of the humour is geared towards a male audience and there are some moments where a ball is dropped, but this shouldn't stop anyone from seeing a film that is a snapshot of a time in recent American history and an insight, all be it a pessimistic one, into a stage in our lives that we must all experience.