When a romantic comedy is done right, it has the capability of knocking you out of the park. Two people falling in love provides a sweetness to the low nature of most comedies. Most of Shakespeare’s comedies involve love and marriage. The lovers often don’t know they are in love, change or hide their identities, think they are smarter than they are, love to talk about…love, and find themselves frustrated with their emotional shortcomings. Here is a movie that seems both Shakespearean in content, yet wonderfully ahead of its time in its subject matter and presentation. Chasing Amy is the Annie Hall or When Harry Met Sally for Generation X. The boundaries of content matter are pushed to the extreme, yet the sweetness remains intact. When Amy stands outside and admits of her sexual dealings, we’re surprised to hear her candidness. Yes, she did those things. Yes, she may have even enjoyed it. But why can’t Holden and most men forgive women for their past dealings? Why does a man feel like he’s sharing her? The amazing thing is how Holden doesn’t mind her being with other women, but the second it changes to men, he loses it. For all his thoughts and ideas on things, he hits a wall of inarticulation when it comes to dealing with Alyssa’s previous experiences.
In fact, Kevin Smith finally seems to have a goal in mind with his writing. While his dialogue was freeroaming in Clerks, the conversations in Chasing Amy really work towards defining the characters and giving them some bite to their incessant bark. Banky, in particular, is the evolution of Dante and Randall in the original Clerks. He defends Archie’s heterosexuality and the artistic responsibilities of “tracing” in the comic book industry. He is severely passionate about his tiny beliefs and will defend them like a fundamentalist would his religion. His relationship with Holden is one of the first homosocial “bromances”, where we are just as interested in their fights as we are between Holden and Alyssa. A showdown takes place at the end of the movie that tries to apply logic to the emotional insanity of dating, and the showdown is unique and funny.
It pushes the borders of the genre and explores the nature of love between men and women. Kevin Smith's vulgarity hits really graceful notes in this movie. The sexual escapade scene reenacted with the same setup as “Jaws” is an example of class this movie manages to uphold while talking about the dangers of going down on a girl. The framing of the scene disregards the actual sexual activity; instead, it’s about these character’s abilities to adapt the old pop cultures of the past and reinterpret them into their daily routines. Watch how easily Hooper’s Malcom X caricature deconstructs Star Wars as racist propaganda. He’s not saying that the movie is racist; rather, just that he’s smart enough to take it down a racist diatribe. If he wants to. He’s just talking because he’s really good at it.
Jay and Silent Bob’s arrival on the scene is perhaps the best I’ve seen. Once again, here we have another “bromance” that seems oddly comforting as these two losers feel comfortable exposing the pathetic nature of any situation. Jay is so oddly homosexual that it’s hilarious to hear him cut open Holden for losing his girl. One can’t imagine the heartbreak Jay would feel if Silent Bob up and left. They are the human doppelgangers of Beavis and Butthead. Except Silent Bob’s mesmerizing speech about Chasin’ Amy is right on par. It robs us because of its honesty. Here we have them first talking about going down on girls (but remember, that’s not the actual subject), and then it deftly switches to men constantly trying to transform girls into the built-up images that they hold for them. These men start with vulgarity almost as if that’s how you say hello. Then, only when you recognize the sadness hiding behind the pussy jokes do you weave your way into comfort and understanding.
