chasingamy

Chasing Amy is a love story that takes place within the world of comic books. Holden McNeil and Banky Edwards (Ben Affleck and Jason Lee) are best friends of twenty years. Together they write the comic book "Bluntman and Chronic." Then one day Holden meets Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), the creator of the comic book "Idiosyncratic Routine," at a comic book convention. Holden thinking he has found the girl of his dreams, accepts her invitation to a bar. However, he is not quite ready for what he finds out about Alyssa; Turns out the girl of his dreams is a lesbian. The two become great friends, but Holden still falls in love with her. The story then becomes the narrative of how these two people cope with love in the nineties. Personally this is my least favorite of Kevin Smith's three movies. I love it, but I was really dissapointed at the turn it took between Holden and Alyssa. I belive that having the two get together, despite the obvious reason why they could not, was utterly ridiculous. Never should these two people have crossed the line of friendship, and I really do not have a clue as to why they did. The first half of the movie was wonderful, the second half took a turn for the worse and lost me.

Chasing Amy was Kevin Smith's third movie. Due to the box office failure of Mallrats, Smith's budget for Chasing Amy was a modest $225,000, but at least he got to shoot it in color. The movie was another smash hit; it was loved by critics, and it made twelve million at the box office. Smith accredits the success of Chasing Amy to basically the same reason why Mallrats failed. The movie was a partly autobiographical account of Kevin Smith's relationship with Joey Lauren Adams, the actress who played Alyssa in the movie. Although she was not a lesbian before he met her, her past was not exactly clean, and Smith had a hard time getting past that fact. Thus, Smith was able to make a movie with feeling, and he understood the standpoint's of his characters. To quote Holden at the end of the film, "I finally had something personal to say," which really respembles what Smith said about Mallrats, "I didn't really have anything personal to say."

Credits:

Directed By: Kevin Smith

Writing Credits: Kevin Smith

Ben Affleck....Holden McNeil

Joey Lauren Adams....Alyssa Jones

Jason Lee....Banky Edwards

Dwight Ewell....Hooper

Jason Mewes....Jay

Kevin Smith....Silent Bob

Ethan Suplee....Fan

Scott Mosier....Collector

Casey Affleck....Little Kid