Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes
Running Time: 240 minutes
Certificate: 15
Extras: Additional Chats
Here’s a question. Are anecdotes about dicks and shagging funny? Of course they are. We all tell them, we all enjoy them. But here’s another question. Are they funny for over three hours? Of course not. Who would listen to stories about someone’s knob and their favourite sex acts for over a hundred and eighty sodding minutes?
You would, if you watch JAY & SILENT BOB GET OLD. Because that’s all it is, really. Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes star in three live shows at venues across Britain in which they sit down and talk, almost exclusively, about their sex lives. There’s none of the insight regarding their films and careers that made Kevin Smith’s Q&As over the last eight years so enjoyable. Those releases had a healthy mix of insider Hollywood tales and deeply personal confessions that made for funny and compelling shows. Plus the writer/actor/director has fun with the audience questions and has a wealth of geeky film knowledge at his disposal. Here, he and his hetero-life partner talk at (extreme) length about Jay’s bell end and his adventures in the sack. That’s practically it. You could say that’s no bad thing, as they’re both creative guys with fantastic comic timing, but after a while, you want a little substance. Just a little. That is provided briefly with a surprisingly moving tale from Mewes about his mothers drug addiction and how his own dependence on heroin spiralled out of control. His frank and honest portrait of the horrors he faced is as sympathetic as it is involving. But then we revert to more stories about his cock and balls. Each show concludes with Mewes and members of the audience playing a game called ‘Let Us Fuck’ where they simulate a brand new sex position. Like the show as a whole, it’s hit and miss. Although there are some lovely moments, in particular the exchanges with a Silent Bob look-a-like who seems to be having the time of his life on stage with his heroes.
If you like the cruder elements of Smith’s canon, this is worth a watch. And theres nothing wrong with that, as its like listening to mates tell filthy stories. Maybe if you get into the spirit of our heroes and get high as a mofo, you’ll have more fun with JAY AND SILENT BOB GET OLD. Just maybe not in one sitting. And probably not twice.
Um, snoogans.
Extras: Some deleted chats that should have stayed deleted.
JAY & SILENT BOB GET OLD: TEABAGGING IN THE UK is released November 19th on DVD
