Holden McNeal (Ben Affleck) and his childhood pal Banky Edwards (Jason Lee)
have had quite a successful creative/business partnership writing and drawing
a successful comic book called Bluntman & Chronic out of their Red Banks, New
Jersey apartment. Unlike other struggling comic book artists they meet at
comic book conventions though, Holden and Banky don't have to come up with
outrageous stunts or a completely phony image in order to attract an
audience. That's how one of their pals, a gay black comic book Hooper X
(Dwight Ewell), makes a living and promotes his underground comic book work
(which we cannot reprint here without getting in trouble with the NAACP).
The duo's fortunes seem to be made when TV producers court them to turn their
comic book characters into an animated series. All seems to be all right in
the world except for one small detail: Holden is in love with fellow comic
book artist Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), a bonafide loose wire and
sexually promiscuous gal that might or might not be receptive to Holden's
advancements.
Based loosely on Kevin Smith's own experiences as a heterosexual man full of
misgivings about himself and the women he dated at the time (personified with
a touch of misguided dignity by Affleck's performance), this movie often
crosses the line between romantic comedy and affectionate drama. On at least
four separate, key and important scenes "Chasing Amy" pipes down the clever
one-liners to allow its characters to engage in painful and heartfelt
monologues toward each other that carry the audience along for the tearful
ride on the strength of the universal reality that anyone who has ever been
in love has walked on the shoes of Holden McNeal (disapproving lover), Alyssa
Jones (disapproved lover) or Banky Edwards (jealous best friend). Gay or
straight, we've all been in this movie at one point or another in our lives;
laughter and tears probably resulted from the peaks and valleys experienced
during relationships, and Smith with his troupe of actors capture the
juxtaposition of these extreme emotions quite well.
For those Kevin Smith fans who haven't seen "Chasing Amy" (isn't that an
oxymoron?) and are worried the man sold out and made a chick flick, there's
still plenty of the foul-mouthed dialogue and laugh-your-head-off hilarious
comedy antics that characterize View Askew productions. No sacred cows are
spared, with Smith's dynamic screenplay milking outrageous comedy out of the
subtle homosexuality of the Archie gang in comic books (Ch.5) or the exposure
of little kids to hardcore magazine pornography (Ch.10). Yet there's a
humility and sincerity about the subject matter, performances and characters
in "Chasing Amy" that are just contagious, and nicely counterbalance the
torrent of foul-mouthed profanity.
Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams make an appealing couple that are opposites
attracted to each other's idiosyncracies. Even Smith's overused and juvenile
Jay and Silent Bob characters get to shine in a single well-conceived scene
(Ch.22) in which Silent Bob's expected throw-away line turns into a small
speech that's half-confessional and half-explanatory of the movie's title,
giving humanity to the duo's still-amusing antics. But it's Jason Lee who
steals the movie as the sidekick friend that feels threatened when the
affection of a woman comes between him and his best friend. He might have
just played opposite Tom Cruise in Cameron Crowe's box office hit "Vanilla
Sky", but to those of us that hold this movie near to our hearts Jason Lee
will forever be known for the nickname with which Kevin Smith refers to him
on every single commentary track these days: "Chasing Amy's" Jason Lee.
The Disc:
Shot for under $250,000 using super 16mm film stock, "Chasing Amy" didn't
even have an optimal source from which to strike the 1997 theatrical prints
and 1998 Criterion Laserdisc transfers, let alone a DVD anamorphic transfer.
This 2000 DVD features the same bonus material, digitally-transfered picture
and discrete Dolby soundtrack from '98, so the movie isn't going to
look/sound any sharper or cleaner than what we get here. This means quite a
few instances of grain, dirt, print burns and minimal edge enhancements
disturbing the plain camera angles that Kevin Smith's so fond of lensing when
shooting his movies. Fortunately the quality of the picture, the
performances and the pretty damn good story underneath the visual flaws are
good-enough for me to completely overlook the grain and film burns (just like
with "Clerks"). Ditto for the serviceable but underwhelming 5.1 Dolby
soundtrack, which concentrates mostly on keeping the voices from the
characters audible and clear while the incidental sound effects and BGM tunes
play second-fiddle on the remaining speakers. Kevin Smith's foul-mouthed but
insightful writing is what people want to watch and hear in a View Askew
production though, so thankfully Criterion has also included English
subtitles for the hearing impaired.
Then there's the Special Features section that Criterion has tied together
with some of the best interface screens, artwork, FMV introductions (lots of
'em) and eight-page booklet full of illustrations (comic book covers of
course) and info that money can buy. There's a short Kevin Smith video
introduction shot exclusively for this DVD in which the writer/director
apologizes for whatever disparaging remarks he made back in '97 about the
then-new DVD technology ('f*** DVD!' being the most common phrase he used at
the time). This is hilarious in and of itself, but then there's the killer
feature-length commentary track that has characterized every View Askew
project that has been released on Laserdisc and DVD. Along with Smith for
yet another trip down self-mockery lane are Ben Affleck (Holden McNeil),
Jason Mewes (Jay), associate producer Robert Hawk, Miramax execute Jon Gordon
and View Askew historian (and Marshall Faulk of commentary tracks) Vincent
Pereira.
Hawk, Gordon and Mewes rarely say something meaningful or funny, but Affleck
and Smith are on a personal crusade to see who can top the other with the
most acerbic and self-deprecating remarks about each other's career and the
movie being watched. It isn't as good as the "Mallrats" and "Clerks:
Uncensored" commentary tracks, but Vincent Pereira's insightful reminders to
Kevin Smith about interesting anecdotes about the movie being talked about
will always be golden in my book and keep "Chasing Amy's" commentary fresh
and enjoyable. There's also an Outtakes reel
(not-as-funny-as-you-might-think bloopers), Ten Deleted Scenes (including a
brand-new introductory sequence and extensions of scenes already in the
movie) separated by selectable chapters, the movie's Promotional Trailer and
The Askewniverse Legend guide to understanding all the characters/locations
from writer/director Smith's 'New Jersey Trilogy' ("Clerks", "Mallrats" and
"Chasing Amy").
bottom line:
"Chasing Amy" has it all: outrageous comedy that hits below the belt,
dramatic moments that tug at the heart, dead-on performances that grab the
viewer by the throat and smartly-written dialogue that rings true in the mind
of anyone that's ever been both lucky and unlucky-enough to have ever been in
love. Only the grainy super 16mm film stock and digital transfer from an
existing Laserdisc prevent us from giving this modern-day classic the five
star rating it so richly deserves. A must-buy title when the DVD gets
re-released in early April at a more affordable price.
By - J.M. Vargas
1/2
