Posted by Aeon X at ups53.citlabs.cornell.edu on September 19, 2001 at 20:53:31:
In Reply to: tell me if I'm beating a dead horse here posted by TheUrbanBrew on September 19, 2001 at 19:07:40:
: J&SB seems like it was very heavily advertised to generate a lot of money, (and probably generated far more than any other VA endeavor, no?) but at the same time it seems like it was kind of thrown together...the plot was kind of stupid; i felt like will ferrel was out of his element. the great thing about VA stuff has always been the one-liners and the dialogue in general; putting will ferrel in the movie added a sort of slapstick element that is really tiring and only works in short doses (five-minute SNL sketches). i mean i'm just thinking as i'm typing here. does anyone agree? disagree? why?
The thing that I didn't like about J&SBSB from the start was the fact that Kevin Smith was using big name talent. I mean, it's one thing to use Ben Affleck, since Kevin had an instrumental part in building his Hollywood career, and as such, the two are good friends. But Will Ferrell and Shannon Elizabeth? Granted, in the end, I found them both very entertaining. But I feared people would go see J&SBSB just for them.
One of my friends, who has never seen a single View Askew film in his life, asked me about Clerks (since it was showing at the college cinema that night), and J&SBSB came up. He knew nothing of the Jay and Silent Bob characters, of course. He mentioned Will Ferrell and Shannon Elizabeth, but what he remembered most from the TV ads was the scene with George Carlin. I hated to disappoint him with the knowledge that Carlin has a relatively small role in the movie, but nevertheless, it just went to prove my point. People would just go see this film to see the big name talent, and wouldn't understand half of the references made. These are the people who wouldn't even consider a repeat viewing of the movie.
J&SBSB is interesting, then, in that it is dually a film made for the fans and a film made to bring in the bucks (at least on opening weekend). Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not chastising Kevin for his casting choices, really. I think that everyone did a wonderful job in their roles. And I love Kevin even more for casting Eliza Dushku, because I just looooooooooooove her. ;) Well, whatever Kevin's motives were (aside from making a great, memorable movie, of course), he did a fine job.