Kevin Smith Says Jay and Silent Bob are back

It’s hard to have grown up in the 90s with the grunge movement, hacky sacks, Discman players happening, among many other fads, and to have not been familiar with Kevin Smith‘s slacker films. Between 1994 and 1999 Smith basically became the spokesman for a generation of basement dwellers with his classics which included “Clerks,” “Chasing Amy,” “Mallrats” and “Dogma.”
What bound all of those 1990s movies together was its fierce no-bull attitude towards youthful isolation. With Smith at the helm, it was ok to feel lost and confused by society. Although each film had different characters, there always was an exception to the rule: Jay and Silent Bob. They would always show up to give a slacker-based state of the union address. Jay (as played by Jason Mewes) spouted curse words faster than a gangster rapper and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) well, he just stood there, taking in Jay’s fat jokes and societal venting.
They were such a hit with Smith fans that, despite their limited screen presence, Smith decided to give them their own full-fledged movie in 2001 with “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” a satirical look at Hollywood as seen through the eyes of these eccentric slackers.
Budgeted at $20 million, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” barely had a plot and seemed to be more of an excuse for the scathing comedic duo to just let it rip. The usual fart, weed, dick jokes and “Star Wars” references appeared, but the satire was potent, even targeting some of the very people that aided their rise, with Jay sniping, “There’s a bunch of motherfuckers we don’t even know calling us assholes on the Internet to a bunch of teenagers and guys who don’t get laid.” Yikes!
Surely, these lowbrow antics wouldn’t be able to carry on into the next generation, but it seems like the demand for Jay and Silent Bob’s return has always been there. Smith tweeted that, 16 years after ‘Strike Back,’ the “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” will start filming this fall. Mewes and Smith will obviously be back. This would be a back-to-the-basics scenario for the 47-year-old Smith, who has been struggling to find a groove of late in the post-“Dogma” phase of his career. Mostly working on B-movies and low-rent Hollywood vehicles, some of which worked (“Red State“) while others didn’t (“Yoga Hosers,” “Tusk,” “Cop Out“), Smith has been trying to find himself by trying to reinvent his style.
That said, we’re excited to see him back in familiar territory with this latest film, and time will tell if this Jay and Silent Bob can adapt to modern movie audiences. 

Article originally posted on The Playlist