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Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection Customer Reviews (49 - 51 of 77 Reviews)

An Irresistable entertaining film by Kevin Smith
Somewhere towards the middle of the movie we get the jist of Banky's (the talented Jason Lee) argument why Holden (Ben Affleck) dating Alyssa (Joey Adams) will not last: "She has seen and done things that you've only read in books," says Banky to Holden, which Banky is trying to warn him that he is too conservative for Alyssa, because Alyssa has a life much different from Holden's. Well, let's just say her nickname is "Finger Cuffs" and that "girlfriends" take on a whole different meaning. Jason Lee's character is the best friend and fellow comic book writer of Holden. Banky is the conscience and the reality of the movie, which basically means he tells it how it is. Also, the fact that Holden and Banky's friendship is falling apart as Holden gets closer to Alyssa (Joey Adams) is all too familiar to me. I can remember times that friendships ended because of friends who gave all their precious spare time to their girlfriend and cannot understand why when it's over that those ex-friends want nothing to with them. Perhaps watching this movie they will realize it. Anyway, Banky finds damaging information about Alyssa and confronts Holden with it. Holden goes to another friend and comic book writer, HooperX (Ewell), who is basically counseling Holden on the matter of Banky's jealousy and indispensible objection to him dating Alyssa, tells him to just ask Alyssa about her past. Holden does just that but in a coniving way and in an unprecedented place, at a hockey game.

Kevin Smith (who reprises his role as Silent Bob, alongside Jason Mewes as Jay) refuses to take the easy way out, which is what Hollywood usually does, you know, the unreal happy ending.

Kevin Smith is definitely a writer/director who will be around for a long time. Despite the fact that his movies' camara movements are not anything to get excited about, it is the story line and the characters that he excels which more than makes up for the generic camara work. You feel as if you know these people, and have known them for years. GRADE: A+

Full of touching insight and hilarious dialogue
Being in love is not a funny business. Far from it, there's absolutely nothing funny about being in love. Kevin Smith knows that, and demonstrates it with "Chasing Amy," a film of insightfulness and hilarity rolled up like one of Jay and Silent Bob's joints. This is a film of unparalleled comedic high, getting back to the simplicity of "Clerks," abandoning the studio element that brought down "Mallrats" from true greatness. It's a wonderful film that really shows Kevin Smith at his best; he knows people, dialogue, and more importantly, he knows what it's like to be a guy with all the stupid insecurities we have.

Ben Affleck plays Holden McNeil in what will probably be his best performance until the next Kevin Smith movie puts him in a role like this. It's a tricky part because he goes through the biggest changes in the movie, but we always believe him. And when Holden falls head over heels for a pretty woman with the voice of a little girl begging for a pony named Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), things get really heated up between him and his best friend of 20 years, Banky (Jason Lee, in what I believed to be the best supporting performance of 1997). But things between this triangle aren't normal by any stretch because of a few simple but huge facts: Alyssa is a lesbian, through and through, and Banky could possibly be a self-loathing gay himself (a question never truly answered or directly addressed). This is all tense enough between them all, but it's when news of a possible 2 on 1 guy to girl group grope that Alyssa partook in surfaces that the movie takes on its true meaning. Holden isn't bothered by Alyssa being a lesbian turned hetero by any means, but the thought of her with men, having tons of experience makes him feel small, insecure, and downright weird. Why? All is revealed in the film, mostly during a scene with Jay and Silent Bob; yes, the scene everyone waits for is the second most pivotal scene in the film as Silent Bob finally opens up and we get a glimpse of the life so shrouded in muteness. Kevin Smith is perfect in his speech to Affleck, delivering every line like a memory recalled instead of dialogue written. If the message of the movie wasn't apparent before, it becomes obvious then, and it's perfect.

Yeah, I make all of this sound serious, but the movie is as funny as any I've ever seen, ranking right up next to "Clerks," only surpassed by "Dogma." There are the usual "Star Wars" gags, most of which delivered in a hysterical speech from a wonderful character named Hooper (another homage to Steven Spielberg's brilliant "Jaws"), who we learn is a "reviled gay man, and to top that off he's a gay black man." The scene comes second in a series of relentlessly funny sequences that only take a halt for that incredibly touching scene in the stopped vehicle. Throughout the rest of the film, Smith's characters argue the sexuality of the Archie comics, compare injuries gained in assortedly hilarious shenanigans, ask questions with the tact of an SAT booklet, and discover skeeball. From start to finish funny, and constantly sprinkled with wonderful bits of emotion, "Chasing Amy" is a comedy in a class of its own: The Kevin Smith Class, which to date has only five films in it. I love the minorities.

It's the perfect anti-Romantic Comedy.
"Chasing Amy" is Kevin Smith's most down to Earth comedy in this loose series of alternitive culture films. That is why it's my favorite of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, "Dogman" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" are a riot, but this one has heart to go with the laughs. Ben Affleck plays Holden, a comic book artist who falls in love with Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adems), a lesbian comic book promoter. They begin as friends, and as his feeling progress, his best friend and partner Binky (Jason Lee) tries to warn him away. Then they finally do get together, but Holden feels threatened by Alyssa's way wild past. This is more than silly sight gags, it's a real look at impossable relationships, and why they fail so miserably. As a testement to the honesty of the movie's treatment of the charactors, "Chasing Amy" has become more than the title of a movie and has become a phrase for this kind of situation, that happens more often than you'd think. The end is as sad as it is inevidiable, and that is where I give Kevin Smith a "well done" for not backing out and giving it a "happy ending". This movie is more than funny (and indeed, the Star Wars speech at the beginning is worth the price of buying this movie), but is right on.

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