Yar, you be here: Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection > Customer Reviews

Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection Customer Reviews (7 - 9 of 77 Reviews)

7 films in and his 3rd is still the best
In the liner notes, Kevin Smith mentions that Clerks got overpraised(which I agree with) while his follow-up Mallrats was outright bashed so really Chasing Amy is in a perfect position: it won't be massively critically acclaimed and thus named overrated and it won't be worse than what people thought of Mallrats. Well it's a good thing it worked out that way since it's sharply-written with good performances that also deals with an odd-but-present subject matter.

Holden and Banky are comic-book artists in charge of the successful Bluntman and Chronic series, inspired by Kevin Smith film mascots Jay and Silent Bob. At a comic convention, Holden meets Alyssa, a cute quirky girl that he gets instantly smitten with. However he finds out a crushing truth: she's a lesbian. And worst of all: she has a bit more of a sexually active past than he thought which he isn't dealing with that well.

There's this girl that I used to be in love with(but unfortunately it was unrequited but nevermind) who had more of an active past than I did, although not as bad as Alyssa's. So in that way I can identify with Holden since while I don't have a Marco Polo complex like a character in the film mentions, I do get a bit jealous when one has more experience than I have. The film was based around Kevin Smith's real-life relationship with star Joey Lauren Adams and the film has a better impact when you see it played out.

Now for a film based primarily around 2 people's obsession with all things sex, there's actually barely any. Instead of a few quick shots during flashbacks and a girl partially naked only from the back it's relatively sex-free. But the language? It's overloaded. There's frank talk about oral sex, mainly to women(including a scene obviously inspired by Jaws) so this is obviously not going to be a film for kids. Clerks/Mallrats fans might be disappointed at the lack of raunchyness but the film works better because of it.

Where the film slightly falters is its extra features. Part of the always great Criterion Edition line, the film is slightly thin on features. It's got a commentary, deleted films but you can practically count the features on one hand. Normally these Criterion discs are PACKED with stuff but the film's so strong anyway so it works.


It's definately worth a watch, even if you didn't like Clerks or Mallrats. It's one of those smart comedies that reveals much more than your cliche-laden romantic comedies.


Criterion, you made a mistake.
Though there are several movies on Criterion's list that have made me question what the hell they were thinking (their edition of Robocop comes to mind), in the end, I usually eventually find something about all their films that might be worthy of the Criterion label. But not with this one, certainly not with Chasing Amy, but also not with anything else touched by the trite mediocrity of Kevin Smith. His work is shallow, empty, stupid and worthless, and Chasing Amy is a great example how utterly unskilled he is as a film maker. Chasing Amy is absolute garbage, even with Criterion's name across the front.

Disappointing compared to other Kevin Smith movies
After seeing Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks, Mallrats, and Dogma (all great), I had high hopes for this movie. Blah, was I wrong. I guess it is an ok (but twisted) romantic movie, but compared to the other Smith movies it comes off as pathetic. Half this movie was devoted to Holden's hangups over his girlfriend's past, that was what much of Clerks was about. Overall this movie is more emotional and not as clever and humourous as the others.

It gets 3 stars for Jason Lee, Jay & Silent Bob, Star Wars references, and the references to other Kevin Smith movies.

Better than Jersey Girl though.

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