Chasing Amy (1997) Review

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Chasing Amy is the first of the Askew movies from Kevin Smith that leaves me a bit mixed on how I feel about it. It's got a lot of the things that made the previous movies interesting, but at the same time, some things about it just don't seem to work as well as they previously had. That isn't to say it's necessarily a bad movie, but it's the one I am most critical of at this point in the franchise.

Focusing more on a love story this time, it's not unfamiliar territory, but in a lot of ways, the girl always kind of felt like a secondary aspect to the story. In this case, it's at the forefront and the emotional crux of the entire show. And in a lot of ways, this is where I feel the show starts to fall apart. It's not because it's a bad premise though. The initial idea is a man falls in love with a lesbian, but later it is revealed she was kind of slut in her previous years, including sleeping with men. The show never portrays someone having a lot of sex as a bad thing mind you, but it becomes relevant in the story for a few reasons.

The first being the girl was lying about having only been with women, and the second that our lead character, Holden, feels inadequate because he lacks the experience she has. Again, this is all fine, it's an interesting dilemma that you don't see tackled like this in films at the time. The problem comes in when you start to realize that Holden himself is kind of an unlikeable twat. He's egotistical, insecure, and often doesn't consider other people's feelings. This is all fine, but it's like they forgot to give him some kind of endearing trait to make us root for him. I don't feel bad when things start going wrong for him, I just find myself thinking 'Yeah, you largely brought this on yourself'.

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That said, I don't like that the show seems to paint him entirely at fault. It seems to take all of the blame off of Alyssa, who is also kind of a shitty person. She is pretty constantly leading on Holden before they get together despite claiming to be gay and not into men as well as the whole lying about having never been with a guy thing despite never really being given a reason as to why. The only real reason you can come to is she hangs out with a bunch of man-hating lesbians and hid that aspect of herself so they wouldn't kick her out of their group. I can't root for any of these people.

Frankly, the only character who I have any real sympathy for in this is Banksy. I never liked the whole 'Makes a lot of gay jokes and says gay slurs a lot so is a closeted homosexual' thing, but Banksy is about the only guy in the show who feels genuine in a lot of ways. Not strictly in a romantic sense, though there are undertones of that, he's afraid that what Holden is getting into with Alyssa will wreck their friendship. He may not go about this in the most healthy ways, but at the same time, the fear seems to be genuine.

Kevin Smith's pension for dialogue also has a tenancy to bite him here in Chasing Amy. There are some pretty lengthy and unrealistic sounding bit of dialogue, like when Holden admits to Alyssa he is in love. It just feels like it drags on without really saying a whole lot, and there are a few instances of that throughout the movie.

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On the other hand, you get a lot of great moments of dialogue and characters as well, even if they aren't the main focus. Banksy I already mentioned, but also the gay black guy who feels he has to put on this extreme black power facade to be taken seriously and puts on some fantastic theatrics. The first time you see him the interactions with Banksy, who is in on the show of it all, are hilarious. Even Bansky and Alyssa sharing stories about injuries related to going down on women are a lot of fun to listen too. While it failed him at times, there is a lot of what made the previous two movies great here in Chasing Amy, as well as a lot of heart in the story it wanted to tell.

In the end, I do still enjoy Chasing Amy, but there were too many issues I took with the main characters and how things were framed in the context of the story. None of the emotional and themes manage to hit as hard as Clerks, and the comedy doesn't commit to the ludicrous nature of it all like Mallrats did, so you are kind of lest with something in-between that doesn't quite hit the nail.


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Man, this is a blast from the past! I remember watching it (and all the others, except Mallrats) but I don't remember anything specific. I have to go and find it again!

The plot seems interesting, a complicated relationship between the characters. I am going to see it for later I leave you my comments.

Didn't enjoy this one. I felt the female lead was trying so hard to be this cool contrarian. I suppose at the time, it was a good formula, the average guy and the crazy girl who shows him how to let loose, but it just sucked. Even Silent Bob's famous break from silence in order to rationalise the protagonists actions and intentions, felt like someone trying to explain a joke, it just takes away from the joke itself. Definitely one of the worst in a top 10 of Smith's films, aside from Yoga Hosers, of course.