Every summer is highlighted by a comic book movie but this summer a spoof of the action packed genre arrived and crash landed in Los Angeles on May 5.
“Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie” played at the New Beverly Cinema in two sold out showings with a question and answer forum following each presentation.
The story of the “super groovy” film can’t be told without the origin story of heroes Bluntman and Chronic played by Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes, respectively.
Smith, 46, of Highlands New Jersey made his writing and directorial debut in 1994 with the small budget film “Clerks” which went on to win awards at the Sundance and Cannes Film Festivals, and become a cult classic .
Smith wrote the story of Clerks based on his own life at the time which involved working at a convenience store and living life in the slow lane.
The characters in the movie were inspired by Smith’s friends including Mewes. Mewes and Smith stood alongside each other for the first time on the big screen as Jay and Silent Bob in Clerks.
The two characters entertained audiences because one would talk without thinking which resulted in hilarious obscenities being loudly while the other would hardly speak unless it was to share his particular wisdom. They are such an odd pair it is hard not to be amazed by them.
After the surprise success of Clerks, Smith was given a large budget to write and direct his sophomore film, Mallrats. The film was a box office failure but marked the second appearance of Jay and Silent Bob which was an accomplishment in itself.
The studio did everything in their power to get Smith to replace Mewes with another actor, going so far as to even forcing Smith to take auditions for Mewes’ role Jay .
Despite the lack of mainstream success Mallrats provided Smith made his third film, Chasing Amy, which was made with a low budget similar to Clerks and became praised by the critics. The film featured Jay and Silent Bob in a minimal role but the duo had a more pivotal role playing prophets in Smith’s unusual religion comedy on Catholicism portrayed in his fourth film, Dogma.
On a personal level, Mewes at the time of filming Dogma in 1998 was struggling with a Oxycontin drug addiction and Smith was dating his future wife Jen Schwalbach.
Mewes’ drug habits affected the shoot in a number of ways, while filming scenes he would fall asleep during his fellow actors were reciting their lines.
Smith did his best to help Mewes get over his addiction and promised him if he would clean his act up he would write a Jay and Silent Bob feature film. Mewes did get clean long enough to make Smith’s fifth film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
During the making of the movie Mewes had to be consume alcohol daily in order to stay aligned with his sobriety. Post production while marketing the film, Mewes fell off the wagon and his relationship with Smith was in question.
Smith, now a father and husband had a family to think about and couldn’t keep babysitting Mewes who just didn’t seem want to help himself.
Smith moved on and directed Jersey Girl which was crucified by critics and didn’t feature an appearance from Jay,Silent Bob, or Mewes at all.
A return of the big screen duo seemed unpromising but due to another promise between Smith and Mewes the pair’s authentic comedy style was restored. Mewes was able to become clean again and as a result was able to play Jay in Clerks II.
Smith then directed and wrote movies that weren’t of his particular style which resulted in box office disappointment and unrelenting criticism Mewes stayed relatively under the radar while his partner Smith made national headlines after a dispute with Southwest Airlines in which Smith was asked to exit a flight because he was too big to fly.
In recent years, Smith has moved away from the movie business and crafted his own lane by creating an entire podcast empire, appropriately referred to as Smodcast. Smith recruited Mewes to begin the “Jay and Silent Bob Get Old” Podcast which helps Mewes keep busy and remain off drugs.
Staying clean became good for Mewes as he recently married Jordan Monsanto, who together produced “Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie,” and was able to purchase a house for the first time.
Smith continued to build his podcast site by having a myriad of shows available for free and taking the talking on the road reaching all parts of America and going overseas to places like London, Ireland and Australia.
The release of “Jay and Silent’s Bob Super Groovy Cartoon Movie” is being done in a similar fashion to the way Smith released his 2011 non-comedy Red State. Instead of having a studio distribute the film, Mewes and Smith are self-distributing the film by booking screening dates nationwide and promote it to the fans through social media. Self-distribution eliminates the cost of advertising which Smith has found to be pointless at times in the past.
The screening of the film was worth the price of admission $20 because it was more than going out to see a movie, it was a different experience with Smith and Mewes there in person to entertain the audience before, after and of course during the film.
The movie although would be great for any comic book fan to see it isn’t for young viewers like Marvel’s films may be. A lot of the content in “groovy movie” is vulgar filled and aimed to be adult humor, if one has seen and paid attention to a film written by Smith
then the dialogue won’t be surprising.
Smith and Mewes announced the film will return to screen in Los Angeles at some point in the future but to see them live or see what else their new brand of entertainment has to offer visit the site Seesmod.com