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Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection

Chasing Amy - Criterion Collection

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A good movie, if you don't mind crude language
Review: I like how Chasing Amy borrows from other movies such as The Graduate and Jaws (the scene at the booth, at the Meow Mix). The main thing CA does for the audience, IMO, is to make us think about how we feel about gay/lesbian lifestyles, and if we can accept someone, knowing what they've done in the past.
Of course, your standards and definition of 'crude language' may differ from mine. I thought it was excessive here. But then, maybe this movie is showing us a particular group. Actually, I think a large part of our society talks this way. It's reality.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic very underrated movie
Review: The movie got plenty of accolades but I thought it deserved even more. The performances especially by the two leads (Affleck and Adams) are superb. This is Kevin Smith dialouge at its best. I seriously think this movie should have been nominated for a best picture oscar (I think it's much better than the nominated Full Monty). The picture is good for the print they used and the audio is standard.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Smith's best work to date!!
Review: No matter how people deal with homosexualityn in real life, it never really comes off right on the big screen or small screen. This work from writer/director/actor Kevin Smith interprets it very well. The best I've ever seen, actually. It seems as if he knows people who are gay and studied about them. I bet he has, too. It has great actors and the best script Smith ever wrote so far. They all seemed like real people with real problems. A wonderful film that is almost perfect in every way.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Why Kevin Why?
Review: For the first half of this movie, it was a classic. I loved it and thought I would watch it again and again. Then the fight happens... and happens... and happens. I spent the last 45 minutes wishing I could go into the movie and slap some sense into Holden. I suppose if you've done something like this, you might think it's being realistic. If you haven't though, it'll just be "Boy Meets Girl/Boy Becomes a Blithering Idiot and Throws His Life Away."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A romantic comedy not afraid to use its big brain
Review: The best thing about Kevin Smith is that he tries to make movies that consciously walk the path *not* of least resistance. He always runs the risk of having the whole endeavor blow up in his face (as happened with the flawed by still worthwhile "Mallrats"). But when things go right, and thankfully Smith is such a talent that can pull this off more often than not, it's like getting diamonds from coal.

In "Chasing Amy" Smith is still prone to moments of misstep. An emotional scene near its middle, where one character professes their love for another, takes place during a rainstorm. It's a tired movie cliche that's made worse by well-placed thunder claps. The scene didn't need any meteorology commentary; it had enough weight in the writing. And Smith, in a weakness he has admitted to, tends to fall in love with twenty-cent words. At times this tendency gets in the way of the reality of his dialogue. But those times are few and far between, and really, nitpicking about the smartness of Kevin Smith's dialogue is like admonishing God for making giraffes too tall.

There. By pointing out the above inconsequential mistakes, I now have free reign to gush over the rest of the movie.

This is one of my three favourite contemporary romantic comedies (that holy trinity also includes "Before Sunrise" and "Say Anything'"), not because I find either of the leads particularly appealing, but because it asks so many valuable questions about the nature of romance itself. Is sexuality a choice? Can we decide whom we love? How fine is the line between platonic and romantic love? Smith wraps these tough questions up in loads of humourous pop culture references, to make them go down easier. "Star Wars", "Jaws", and, bless Kevin's heart, legendary Canadian teen-com "Degrassi Junior High" are all included. Fans of Kevin's previous works will also revel in his moments of self-referentiality, as many aspects of his View Askewniverse are brought back to bring life to the film's background.

Ben Affleck, as the cynical hipster comic book dude who's in touch with his emotions and his passions, had a tough task here. His wasn't as outrageous a character as those around him. He had to be real, to provide the film with some firm ground to take off from. And even though it's one of the (relatively) weakest performances in the film, Affleck has enough movie-star charisma about him (this is not post-"Good Will Hunting" revisionist history I'm indulging in; I felt this way the first time I saw the film in '97, when he was a relative unknown) to make Holden a character you don't mind spending two hours with. (Note to Kevin: given the accessibility of modern CGI technology, can you *please* fill in the left side of Ben's hastily grown goatee? It's lopsided, and quite distracting!)

Joey Lauren Adams also had a tough task. Her character, Alyssa Jones, is essentially based on her (Smith has admitted that his relationship with Adams provided an autobiographical framework for the story he tells here). She is an earnest pixie, full of energy and spunk and adventure. It sounds like it would be an easy role to play, the lesbian who falls in love with a man, in the hand of a less thoughtful screenwriter. But Smith furnishes Alyssa with an armload of prudence and passion, a level head, and a complicated past. Adams plays all of these angles with perfect precision.

These two prospective lovers are ably supported by a duo of wonderful characters. Dwight Ewell plays Hooper X, a comic book artist with a schizophrenic persona (he "talks like Louis Farrakhan on stage, and the King of Pop off"). Ewell manages both sides of his character beautifully. There's a great scene in a record store, where he runs into a young fan, and must turn on the black militant rage in an instant. When the kid's gone, he gets this goofy grin on his face, incredulous at the act he must put on just to sell comics. Jason Lee, as Holden's best friend and "inker" Banky, has an army of scatological lines to deliver, which he does with deadpan precision. Banky is a loyal trooper, a man whose passions are worn on his sleeve and is unapologetic about them. His shining moment comes when he gives a young boy a quick education on skin mags. But Lee is also good when not in full-blown Banky mode. If not for this restraint he gives to the character, the friendship between Banky and Holden (their comic book is published under the name "Bank Holdup"' ha!) would be implausible.

Of course any Kevin Smith movie would be incomplete without an appearance by those pot-dealing knuckleheads Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith himself). They only appear in a brief scene at the end, which is probably just enough screentime. The one thing I'll say about this scene is that I get a kick out of the fact that Smith delivers the first line of his vital monologue (it happens to be the movie's title) while he's got his fingers in his mouth biting his nails. Hee-hee.

I've always found the ending problematic. It's a bold step to go out on that just barely works; I just can't buy the fact that one of the characters would make such a stupid decision. It's a necessary plot point, but one that falters slightly. Still, it's only a minor quibble in what is mostly a flawless movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Smith at his best!
Review: Chasing Amy is definetly Kevin Smith best movie of all time. Written after the horrible Mallrats experience, it is full of sensibility without losing Smith's trademark foul-mouthed but beautiful humor.

As a matter of fact, this has to be one of the better "romantic comedies" of all time. WHy? Because it is not conventional. And as any one who has fallen in love knows. Love is not conventional!

So straying from the "sure win formula" of telling the story of how "boy likes girl, girl likes boy, boy dumps girl, girl comes back!", Smith exploits a very difficult relationship scenario to explore macho fear of "not fitting in on a woman's past," "the male bonding experience" and how it is affected by the "entry of the the female factor" and the bad juedgement one tends to make when you are blindly in love.

And all this is nicely laid out on top of wonderful pop-culture references and comic book allusions tha are the wet dream of any "fan-boy."

This Criterion Collection DVD is the perfect dressing for such a great movie, as it includes all the scenes that were left out of the movie, a very funny comentary track wit the whole crew, and some more extras that you will enjoy!

IF you only will see one Kevin Smith movie, watch Chasing Amy. You would not be dissapointed!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Smart and Witty
Review: Alyssa Jones is vibrantly charismatic, smart, self assured, and independent. Holden, who falls in love with her, has insecurities due to past differences. The result is a dynamic relationship with smart and witty dialogue that's also honest.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Kevin Smith movie you can see with (open minded) girlfriend
Review: Yet again, Kevin Smith does it with sharp dialogue and an offbeat storyline. If you enjoy his movies for what they are, well written, insightful, irreverent, and about the slacker in all of us you will enjoy this one too. If you are just a fan of the Jay and Silent Bob wackiness, this one might be a little mushy for you. Don't get me wrong, 'Amy' has plenty of references to Star Wars, comics, the first two movies (Clerks, Mallrats), and all of the other things that we have grown accustomed to from Smith, but it does have a more intense storyline about the relationship between the main characters. All in all a great movie, and one that has enough relationship storyline that it isn't just a comic book freak movie that you would be scared to let your girlfriend know that you own.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Why the rerelease?
Review: First off, this film is wonderful (if uneven) and I already own it. However, I bought it in 2000 when it was first released. Why the reissue? Is it like Criterion's Seven Samurai DVD in that it will be reissued minus a feature or two because they lost the rights? What gives here? Please post a response if you are certain.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Chasing Amy
Review: Let me start off this review by saying that I bought this without seeing it first, but knew it would be great because I loved Mallrats and Clerks, and after I watched Chasing Amy, I liked it just as much as them.

THE STORY GOES: Holden and Banky (Affleck, Lee) are best friends who make a best-selling comic-book "Bluntman and Chronic". At a comic convention, their friendship falls on the rocks when Holden's life is turned upside down by another comic-book artist, Alyssa (Adams), who unbeknownst to Holden is a lesbian. I will end there because I dont want to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it.

THE DVD: As always, the best and most popular dvd company, Criterion, saves the day. The disc features commentary, Outtakes, Deleted Footage, Trailer, And Movie Intro by the man himself: Kevin Smith

Rated R: Profanity, Nonstop sexual references.


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