Retro Review: Chasing Amy

(I watch movies. I write. Don’t know where else to put this.)

Last night I watched Chasing Amy. It was on IFC and I turned over there right when they’re in the bar after Ben Affleck has learned that Joey Lauren Adams is a (for the time being) lesbian, and she’s having her sex injuries conversation with Jason Lee. For a second, I forgot that Lee was not the star of the movie, and thought that Affleck was the sidekick. When reality slapped me upside the head, I was disappointed. Simply put, Affleck isn’t half the actor Lee is, at least not in this role. He’s abjectly terrible, and it would have been 100 times better if they had switched places. Of course, the movie probably would have never been made, but that’s not really important to what I’m saying.

Also, I remember really liking this movie and hating the ending. It’s still cringe-worthy, but I don’t hate it anymore. In fact, I would say this movie is Outrageously Fucking Good, and the conclusion is perfect to dot the I of Affleck’s naïve character (I’m not talking about the slapped-on at the comic convention ending, I’m talking about the scene in the house). In fact, his fairly bland performance comes off as perfect here: he stands there, mouth agape, as Adams gives her closing monologue, looking pathetic as all hell – the problem is that he looks pathetic the whole time, and feels pathetic. It’s fairly unbelievable that Adams would actually see anything in him, leastwise the man who’s so great that he—pardon the phrase—completes her. With Lee, I think it would have worked. Their chemistry in the one scene where they don’t loathe each other is palpable, but it’s immediately taken away from us. That was too bad.

I’m pretty fond of the Kevin Smith crew in general, even if I can nitpick the movies pretty well. I’m a big fan of Mallrats; or, more to the point, I’m a big fan of the director/actor commentary on Mallrats, which is the Best Commentary Of All-Time. Honestly, the only thing better than watching a movie that could have been better (but was still good) is watching the people who made it trash it, MST3K-style. They trash Shannon Doherty, talk about how they wish Claire Forlani (a favorite) would have performed scenes topless, and wonder who the heck Walt Flanigan is, which became something of a college catchphrase. If you know anything about my college experience, you know something like that is to be treasured.

Back to Chasing Amy. I was shocked—shocked—at how good Adams was, now completely separated from my adolescent desire (at the time) to fall in love wither her like Affleck did. I know she’s been in other movies since then and some I’ve seen, but I can’t imagine she’ll do anything better than that. And I also have a newfound appreciation for Kevin Smith, who kept it interesting. I think when I was younger I was not fully appreciative of how hard it is to write consistently engaging dialogue, and I thought the whole thing stood up 10 (or whatever) years later.

All of this is on the heels of my finally seeing Crash (the more recent one), but my thoughts on that are too long and have been hashed out over email too much to write now. Basically: I don’t see what the whole fuss is about, pro- or con-. It’s just a silly movie. I think that’s all I have to say.

Alright, enough movies. Go watch baseball.