After having the good fortune to see Dogma a few weeks ago and after hearing some positive reports, I decided to make some forays into director Kevin Smith's earlier work.
I headed on down to my local video library and headed straight for the comedy section and picked out Clerks, Mallrats and this movie - Chasing Amy. I noticed that the little yellow "Comedy" sticker up the top corner of the video cover had been stuck over one of the little blue "Romance" stickers. I grinned to myself, thinking about the silly video store employee who had mistakenly classed Chasing Amy as a Romance, only to have a wiser colleague come along and correct the error.
As it turned out, whoever covered up the Romance label with the comedy label was the one making the misjudgement. Ben Affleck stars as "Holden", the creator of a semi-popular comic book which seems to be based on recurring Smith characters Jay and Silent Bob (Who is far from silent in his brief appearance in this outing).
Holden is faced with a dilemma when he falls head-over-heels in love with Alyssa, the former school bike-cum-lesbian. Major crises ensue as Holden struggles to come to terms with his girlfriend's sordid past and as his best friend, "Banky" (Jason Lee) becomes more and more jealous of the relationship and it's effect on their friendship. Lee provided most of the comedy contained in Chasing Amy and he has some genuinely hilarious (and extremely vulgar) lines.
I appreciate that Kevin Smith was trying to "open up our eyes" to the world of alternative sexuality and perhaps explain that people's sexual preferences are not as cut and dried as we might have been led to believe. This is admirable, but I really feel that it was done in an overly in-your-face fashion. Towards the end of the film, things go downhill into the realms of sensationalism and absurdity, where it is revealed that Banky is secretly attracted to Holden (This apparently explains his homophobic nature and his jealousy over the Alyssa/Holden relationship).
The ending of Chasing Amy (and I could smell a terrible ending coming a mile off) made me want to rip the video cassette out of the player and smash it against the wall, such was my annoyance and frustration. Overall, I cannot call this movie a dead loss and must confess that much of my dislike comes from the low laugh factor and the fact that I found it very hard to care (or want to know) about the subject matter. If you are looking for a perhaps thought provoking, anti-romance movie to get you thinking (Or leave you brooding and unsatisfied) then Chasing Amy may be just the ticket. If you are looking for a wickedly funny and clever guffaw-fest or even a simple grin-fest then look elsewhere.
Life-long friends Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) are enjoying success as the creators of the cult hit comic book Bluntman a...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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