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Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection

Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 5 Stars for the film, but 1 for the "Special Features"
Review: I *loved* this movie -- it's a warm, joyful, and very funny exploration of love, and the things we choose to hide in order to be loved by the ones we want. Affleck's intelligence, earnestness, and romanticism make Armageddon look like a bad dream, while Joey's the feisty heroine we girls wish we were, and Jason Lee takes a relatively thankless role and turns Banky into a wholly sympathetic, understandable, confused, and lovable loner who's desperate in the face if being displaced by his best friend's first real love affair. (Prediction: One of these days Lee will leave Affleck in the dust.)

It's a great film -- wonderfully written and acted, and the characters' declarations of love are surprisingly sweet and literate, and worth going back a track or to on that DVD button for a second viewing.

But the "special edition DVD" is a rank disappointment. Sure, it's loaded with stuff (most of it from the previous Criterion laser release from years ago -- ironically, the commentary opens with a loud diss by Smith & co. on the 'fad' of DVD's and how they will quickly fade), but too bad most of it bites.

The Director's Commentary is the biggest surprise -- it's awful.

While I drooled at the idea of listening to someone as smart and funny as Smith is commenting on his film, what I got was a barely coherent mumblefest from Smith, Mewes, Affleck, and buddies. (I mean, come on, this from the Smith who once beautifully analyzed "A Man for All Seasons" for the New York Times?) The guys instead spend most of the two hours making noises at one another, and are evidently not even watching the movie they're supposed to be commenting on. The group sounds blitzed, most of the commentary has nothing to do with the film (and Mewes especially is in "Jay" mode, embarrassingly unaware of what's going on onscreen in front of them, a fact Smith and Affleck exploit throughout the commentary).

I love the movie, and don't think anyone should miss it. But I spent the extra bucks on the "special edition" and felt robbed. Don't make the same mistake, and spend the extra bucks on a "special" edition that's frankly not so special. (Until they bother to re-record the commentary on a day when everyone's caffeinated or sober, at least.)

Just my 2 cents. ;-)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Chasing Amy - A Review
Review: Chasing Amy

Cast - Ben Affleck
Joey Lauren Adamas
Jason Lee
Dwight Ewell
Jason Mewes
Kevin Smith

Synopsis - Holden McNiel had everything going right for him, a number 1 comic book, a best friend in the form of high strung but love-able Banky Edwards, and what I consider the coolest apartment ever. But then he meets her. Alyssa Jones, un-reasonably attractive comic book creater. After a comic convintion, the two get a few drinks and a chance to talk. After only a few minuetes, Holden realizes this girl is the love of his life and he has to pursue her. Theres only one problem, shes
a lesbian. Distraught by the news, Holden must find a way to deal with his fellings -- and fast. Because there relationship is growing all the time, while at the same time his and Banky's(the tracer) relationship is sliping as well. Can Holden and Alyssa ever be a normal couple? Can Banky and Holden stay friends? Probobly not, but watch to see any way.

Deleted Scenes - While it is obvious in some of these cut scenes why Smith left these out, in others you find your self screaming at the TV "Why you [people], why did you leave this golden piece of cinema out of the flick?" Each scene is proceded with an intro by Smith and guest; Affleck, Mewes and Mosier.

Commentary - Alot of the reson why I buy View Askew DVDs, is for the usually hillarious Audio Commentary. But this one is lacking and at times even boreing. Most of it is full of the sound of the commenters eating, which can be quite annoing.

Overall - A wonderfull movie with a less than wonderfull DVD.

Good - The story is great, for a few reasons. First off it was a novel idea, man falls for woman, woman likes woman, man's friend likes no one. Second, the actors are all wonderfull, the camera work was great and I was relly hurting for the characters in the end, something I could never say about Smith's previous VA flicks.

Bad - Nothing really much, just a few nitpicky things. At times I couldn't understand what Joey Lauren Adams was saying, but that was only in the scenes in witch her character was more emotional. Also, don't bother buying this if you have the laser disk, its exactly the same. But you deserve to be [messed] over if you own a laser disk player.

Ugly - Matt Damon in skank but jeans.

Direcor/Writer - Kevin Smith

Prouducer - Scott Moiser

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The only Kevin Smith disappointment
Review: I have seen them all, Clerks, Mallrats, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Stike Back, adn Chasing Amy is the biggest diappointment of a movie. Kevin Smith's writing was still amazing and it had a somewhat good cast, but the story line was one that made me want to hit myself. I would not recommend this movie to may other unless your into that is she or isnt she a lesbian thing with Ben Affleck turning her back and forth. Go with any of the other movies. This hurts me to say how bad this movie was. But I will anywasy only becasue I love Kevin Smith and expect more out of his storylines.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: nothing there
Review: This movie had a superficial plot which served only to allow the characters endless opprtunity to talk about sex. Long, improbable monologues and not much else. It reminded me eerily of the movie 'Mindwalk.'

I guess a lot of people must have liked how emotional the movie was and how people intelligently expressed their feelings (unlike what happens in real life). I like intelligent movies, but aside from a memorable early scene, this one was just plain BORING cause it was not a story- it was a bunch of speeches.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Inteligent, Slapstick, and now Romantic
Review: Kevin Smith is showing some real talent in this series. It started with Clerks which was funny (even though for some reason I didn't really laugh, but it was still funny). Then came Mallrats which ws baltently slapstick and very much funny. Now we hit Chasing Amy which is a highly profane, yet cute and silly comedy about a comic book creater who falls in love with a lesbian. His friend doesn't get it, and at first the girl doesn't want it. However like all romantic comedies she ends up falling for him in a funny Kevin Smith Style.
From my personal perspective I didn't expect much from this title, in fact it was only because I started watching the series in order (next stop Dogma) that I got some of the jokes...
Overall this is a fun, cute title with definetly the best story thus far, there are very few sight gags which is what they were going for and in the end it is definetly a date film. If you watch this casually you may end up being a little bored.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Kweel,indeed recomend to ani 1!
Review: This film is totally kool,a great film to follow up mallrats not as good as mallrats mind, but still ace.Jason Lee just as good in this as mallrats and still nice lookin with the beard!
I recomend this to ani one with a stupid sense of humour,and loves kevin smith films.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Chasing Amy is great!
Review: Writer-director Kevin Smith (Clerks) makes a huge leap in the wrong direction with this weak story about a comic-book artist (Ben Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Joey Lauren Adams) and actually gets his wish that she love him, too. Their relationship is attacked, however, by his business partner (Jason Lee), who pulls a very unsubtle Iago act to cast a sense of reality over the whole affair. The film has the same sense of insiderness as Clueless--this time, Smith takes us within the arcane, funny world of comic-book cultism--but the themes of jealousy, deceit, and the high price of growing up enough to truly care for someone, being completely absent, make this a very annoyingly psuedo-intellectual movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Must Have Kevin Smith Film
Review: This is the film that the world snubbed and never gave a chance. This is a truly amazing film with a story that most people could never have come up with in years. It is original and very realistic. It fits well into the modern day and age and will actually make people think about their relationship no matter what gender.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I think Kevin Smith is a great writer
Review: but I really hated this movie.

I think it's full of promise that quite simply goes unfulfilled, and I am astonished that so many people feel as passionately positive as they do about it.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people that loves to dislike stuff just to be contrary; i'm not one of those [people] who writes negative reviews just for the "pleasure" of raining on the parade... Too many people have told me how wrong I am, how I missed the point, how this little gem somehow escaped me. I've watched it six times. I've listened to the commentary track on the DVD. I even had the pleasure of hearing Kevin Smith give an informal chat a couple years ago, and he had some great, interesting things to say about the film.

But the movie just doesn't work for me for several distinct reasons.

First of all, these are some really interesting characters. They're artists who have made some success for themselves. And yet most of what they talk about boils down to: "wow, a straight guy is in love with a lesbian, what DOES this mean?" During the course of the movie, they discuss little else.

Banky and Holden view homosexuality on about a fifth grade level. It's like neither one of them have ever been out of the house before. With so little knowledge of the world, how did they ever find such a cool place to live? The extent of their ignorance is pretty ridiculous and unconvincing.

Yes, I know, their limitations serve the story so that Holden can see the light and learn something at the end... but what he learns is the kind of pat lesson that's usually followed by the expression, "Duh..."

And, yes, I know there are people like Banky and Holden all over the place. That doesn't mean I want to see a movie about idiots.

On the flip side, the ideas the movie puts forward about homosexuality are smug, simplistic and self-serving. And the movie doesn't play straight with the issues, either, because in the end the thing that comes between Holden and Alyssa isn't the fact that she's a lesbian; what really comes between them is the fact that Alyssa used to have wild sex with guys Holden didn't like. So, basically, the whole homosexuality subtext gets the "bait-and-switch" treatment and that makes the whole movie ring false.

Like I said, these are interesting characters. It's a shame they aren't given something real to talk about. Instead, they mug, they ACT up a storm in the parking lot, they do schtick, they do the montage thing, they throw darts at a target that appears to be three feet off the floor....

But I've argued my points with fans of the movie across so many tables, I've seen Janet Maslin congratulate Quentin Tarantino on TV for having the good sense to like "Chasing Amy," and I've been subjected to the shaking heads of people who mutter, "It's a great movie, man, you just don't get it."

I do get it. I just wish there was MORE to get.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chasing Perfection
Review: Put aside the fact that this movie is hysterically funny. Put aside the fact that the characters are absolutely perfect, clever, sarcastic, ironic, difficult, entertaining, smart... etc. Put aside that fact that Jason Lee is, as always, so damn funny! The only thing you need to know about Chasing Amy is that it's a chick flick gone bad. There are enough guy moments to keep the pace for any dude seeing this for the first time. And once you are in, you realize that the interactions between the characters, concerning friendships, relationships, life in general are so honest and real that you totally sympathize with every character.

Gals will dig this film because it's funny and smart and cuts to a lot of issues that we live through in every relationship. Guys will like it because of the same reasons. There is enough dysfunction and bad judgement to go around.

Let's not forget that Kevin Smith is behind it all, which makes it a must see to begin with. Laugh..., think about a few things, and maybe, just maybe change your whole life after hearing Silent Bob's touching story... well maybe not change your WHOLE life. hahaha


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