Film Review: Chasing Amy (1997)

Statistics and experience tell us that if one film by certain director is hailed as masterpiece, the next one is likely to be viewed as disappointment. Kevin Smith learned it the hard way, following the unexpected, almost fairytale-like, success of his ultra-low budget debut Clerks. His next film Mallrats was abandoned by critics and audience alike and Smith at few occasions even had to apologise to some of his fans who had viewed him as next grand guru of independent cinema. The main reason was film’s big budget which made Mallrats look too Hollywood and, consequently, Smith being branded a sellout. In order to silence the critics Smith took significantly less budget for his next and even more personal film, 1996 romantic drama Chasing Amy, which would be ultimately hailed as one of his best works.

The plot begins at the comic book convention in New York where protagonist, comic book artist Holden McNeill (played by Ben Affleck) and his colleague and best friend Banky Edwards (played by Jason Lee) promote their popular comic book series Bluntman and Chronic. There Holden notices female comic book artist Alyssa Jones (played by Joey Lauren Adams) and becomes smitten with her. He continues to have feelings for her even after she learns that she is a lesbian. Holden is at first content to be her friend, but as they continue to hang out, both he and Alysssa realise they have a lot in common and they actual start a romantic relationship. This, however, doesn’t sit well with Banky who thinks that Holden will not only have his heart broken, but that his affair with Alyssa would harm their artistic collaboration.

Chasing Amy is set in the same fictional universe as Clerks and Mallrats and also contains some of Smith’s trademarks – young protagonists with blue collar New Jersey background, saucy dialogues that relate about various sexual practices, plenty of pop culture references that mostly revolve around Star Wars and, finally, presence of Jay (played by Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (played by Smith), pair of small time marijuana dealers who serve as film’s Greek chorus. There is, however, one important difference. Smith for the first time experiments with different genres and Chasing Amy functions, at least in the first half, as romantic comedy, although with somewhat unusual bisexual motives that were looked “edgier” to the audience in mid 1990s than they are looking now. In the second part of the film, however, the comical tone is subdued and the film begins to look like drama in which characters thoughtfully discuss important issues like the true nature of love, friendship and sex. Because of that many critics considered Chasing Amy to be the most mature of all Smith’s works by that point.

Smith’s greatest talent lies in dialogues and direction isn’t exactly his forte. He handles Chasing Amy well, keeping the relatively quick pace, although the film in its final stages isn’t as strong and effective as promised by brilliant opening scene featuring black comic book arts played by Dwight Ewell. For the most part the film lies on the shoulders of a very good cast. Ben Affleck, who was becoming a star of independent cinema at the time, is convincing in portraying personal and professional dilemmas of young artist. He is well matched by Jason Lee as his best friend. But the most impressive performance belongs to Joey Lauren Adams, an actress Smith was dating at the time of production. The role was written explicitly for her and she plays it brilliantly, delivering a lot of charm and vulnerability to her character. Although Smith still haven’t perfected some of his directing skills and although the shift from comedy to drama isn’t handled well, Chasing Amy is a very good piece of film making, something that can be appreciated by cinephiles, Smith’s fans and ordinary audience alike.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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