Jay And Silent Bob Reboot - What We Know So Far
Well before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was a thing, indie writer/director Kevin Smith had his "View Askewniverse" of slacker, stoner, crowd-pleasing comedies usually set in and around his home state of New Jersey. What was the connecting thread that tied together movies like Clerks (1994), Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999)? Jay and Silent Bob, the friendly, drug-dealing hoodlums portrayed by Jason Mewes and Smith himself, respectively. If you don't know, Jay is the fast-and-filthy-talking one; Silent Bob is the one in the trench coat who usually remains, well, silent.
The fan favorite "heterosexual lifemates" got their big moment in the spotlight with 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which found the characters heading to Hollywood to stop production on a movie based on Bluntman and Chronic, a comic book they inspired. The long-awaited sequel, the cleverly-titled Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, is on the way. If you're a fan of this daring duo, we've got the answers to all your blunt questions about the return to the View Askewniverse.
What's Jay and Silent Bob Reboot's release date?
While a lot of major movies either debut at a prominent film festival (Kevin Smith's own debut, Clerks, screened at both Cannes and Sundance prior to its theatrical release) or just roll out on 3,000-plus screens on a Friday, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot will first unspool in a slightly different way. Fathom Events, which distributes special and live events to select multiplexes, will handle Reboot's first showings on October 15, 2019, which will include an introduction from Smith, some bonus material, and free movie posters for lucky fans. Two days later, Reboot will screen again as part of a double feature alongside Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Those dates maybe aren't so random. October 15 nearly matches up with the original release dates of some of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot's predecessors — Clerks first screened for paid audiences on October 19, 1994, while Mallrats reached theaters on October 20, 1995.
After those initial events, Smith and Mewes are taking the show on the road. The pair will travel around the U.S. to personally present the film and follow it up with Q&A sessions. Between October 21 and December 12, "The Jay & Silent Bob Reboot Roadshow" will hit 31 cities for 45 screenings.
Who's in the cast of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot?
Kevin Smith has been doing his own thing in the movie industry for 25 years now. Over that time, he's built up a massive world of characters within his View Askewniverse. As Jay and Silent Bob pulls material and setups from so many of those previous films, a lot of those characters simply have to return to pick up plot lines in this franchise-capping movie. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith are back as the titular duo, while Jason Lee once again plays Brodie Bruce, his comics-loving character from Mallrats, and Joey Lauren Adams will appear as her Chasing Amy comics creator Alyssa Jones. Adams' love interest from that film, Holden McNeil, is the guy who created the Bluntman and Chronic comics, making it a natural opportunity for Ben Affleck to reprise the role.
Affleck's frequent collaborator Matt Damon will also make an appearance, likely portraying Loki, his Dogma character. Rosario Dawson has signed on to play Becky, the role she originated in Clerks II, alongside Brian O'Halloran, returning as Clerks hero Dante. Shannon Elizabeth and Jennifer Schwalbach Smith return as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back's animal rights activists Justice and Missy, respectively.
It's not all Kevin Smith veterans along for the ride; Val Kilmer, Melissa Benoist, Joe Manganiello, Justin Long, Craig Robinson, and Chris Hemsworth are also set to make the leap into the Askewniverse for the first time.
What's the story of Jay and Silent Bob reboot?
Yes, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot will revisit the world of Smith's classic '90s comedies, just as fans remember it. However, Reboot is self-aware, making fun of itself and Hollywood's obsession with retreads. "It's not really strictly a reboot in the way that people think of a reboot. If you remember Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, it was a movie in which Jay and Silent Bob found out Hollywood was making a movie about them, so they went cross-country to Hollywood to stop that from happening," Smith said at a post-podcast-taping Q&A in May 2019. "In Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Jay and Silent Bob find out that Hollywood is making a reboot of that old movie that they had made about them, and they have to go cross the country to Hollywood to stop it all over again. It's literally the same f***ing movie all over again. It's a movie that makes fun of sequels and remakes and reboots while being all three at the same time."
Along with the road trip to stop a movie from getting made (again), there's a major plot addition: Jay has a child. He reunites with Justice, who introduces him to their daughter, a young woman named Millennium Falcon. "Millie" is a lot like her father in that she also has a constant companion who never speaks, a deaf friend named Soapy. They insist on heading to Hollywood, too.
Watch the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot trailer
On July 18, 2019, movie distributor Saban Films released the first trailer for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. The profanity-laden, NSFW "red-band" preview proves that Kevin Smith's previous comments about the nature and concept of the project were accurate. Reboot indeed imitates the plot of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back while also making fun of that movie and Hollywood, too.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back concerns the duo's trip to Hollywood to shutter a movie version of Bluntman and Chronic, a marijuana-meets-Batman comic book created by Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck, reprising his character from Chasing Amy). Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek appear themselves as the stars of the adaptation. Along the way, Jay met and fell for an animal rights activist named Justice (Shannon Elizabeth).
According to the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot trailer, the new movie centers on a reboot of the Bluntman and Chronic movie in production, with Val Kilmer and Melissa Benoist (a movie Batman and TV Supergirl, respectively) taking on the roles, though Biggs and Van Der Beek return for a cameo. Along the way, Jay reconnects with Justice, who introduces him to their teenage daughter (played by Harley Quinn Smith, Smith's real-life daughter).
The Jay and Silent Bob Reboot poster
Jay and Silent Bob diehards can also get a load of the official Jay and Silent Bob Reboot poster. This winking-at-the-past key art is consistent with the rest of the movie in its nod to the past, as the poster depicts Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith in character standing against a brick wall, not unlike the one they leaned against in Clerks back in 1994. Mewes and Smith strike familiar poses — loose and flashing a "devil horns" gesture for Jay, eyes agape with a cigarette hanging out of the mouth for Silent Bob. Bearing the tagline "Weed love to tell you a story," the poster promises a Jay and Silent Bob Reboot release date of October 2019.
Smith also unveiled a movie poster for the movie-within-a-movie, advertising the Bluntman and Chronic reboot. It strikes a dark, gritty, superhero tone, highly reminiscent of one of the recent DC Comics movies starring Jay and Silent Bob Reboot supporting player, Ben Affleck.