Chasing Amy – Review

Holden McNeil (Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Lee) herald their comic creation: Bluntman and Chronic. During a New York Comic Con, the pair host a booth and deal with fans of their series. Some of them just love the book, as the shit is awesome!! Holden draws the pictures in pencil, while Banky inks it. They sign autographs; however, Banky gets into fights with fans that call him a mere tracer. Ouch.

Their friend Hooper X (Obafemi) is also at the con pushing his latest comic: White-Hating Coon. He lets his fiery political agenda take the stage, as he has had enough of black people getting put down in white entertainment. However, Hooper is just putting on a front to sell books, using a black militant personality while in reality he is a very chill and super homosexual man. Strangely that part doesn’t help his publisher sell his image, or his book, while black rage does.

Hooper’s friend Alyssa Jones (Adams) does her own book, Idiosyncratic Routine. The group goes to have a post-convention drink, as Holden is immediately into Alyssa. Too bad that he soon finds out that she is into girls. Bummer for him.

Alyssa and Holden begin a friendship regardless of sexual orientations, and find they have a great time hanging out together. This creates a complex issue as Holden is really into this girl. Banky doesn’t understand his friend and roommate’s activities or pursuing a lesbian. Chaos sets in for virtually every character involved, and even Jay (Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) grace the picture.

Chasing Amy may be my favorite Kevin Smith film. It is super funny and very mature, despite its humor. It takes on reality in interesting ways while delivering three-dimensional and well-rounded characters throughout. Relationships are usually tough, but throw in some complicated pasts and diverse desires and things get even more hectic.

All the characters are played very well by the cast, bringing reality and humanity to them. The script works for me all around, and the direction is more intimate than Clerks or Mallrats. Chasing Amy brings more emotional heft than most of Smith’s other works, all while slanging his trademark humor left and right, and having subtle connections to his previous films. I like the atmosphere presented and despite some drama, this comedy works very well. This is a great mix of characters and well-done writing.