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Chasing Amy
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
Chasing Amy
Romantic Comedy / English / 1997
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Originally Posted by Sexy Celebrity
You could watch my guilty pleasure movie. "Chasing Amy" (1997)
A romantic comedy? Uh-oh.
Another movie with a lot of big names, Chasing Amy is an odd duck. It doesn't seem to be uniformly good or bad, but bursts of both in equal doses.
I had quite a few chuckles in this movie ("Chicks? Such a MAN."), but I was almost as frequently turned off by the humor and... shall we say "irreverent" dialog.
Bribing someone into karaoke with ecstacy?
Rapidfire graphic descriptions of cunnilingus gone wrong?
Bait-and-Switch Lesbians into an inappropriately drawnout snogfest for the discomfort of the protagonist? HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA........
And normally that stuff would be more than enough to put me off, but to be honest I found the characters fairly refreshingly realistic. The general dialog and delivery feels natural (at least until Jay and Silent Bob show up) and I really get a sense of these characters, with My Name Is Earl's Jason Lee as the relative highpoint for me.
He's a total dick, but I buy him. He's a very genuine dick. And I totally believe that he loves dick jokes. Dick.
Let's get serious though.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]
Another movie with a lot of big names, Chasing Amy is an odd duck. It doesn't seem to be uniformly good or bad, but bursts of both in equal doses.
I had quite a few chuckles in this movie ("Chicks? Such a MAN."), but I was almost as frequently turned off by the humor and... shall we say "irreverent" dialog.
Bribing someone into karaoke with ecstacy?
Rapidfire graphic descriptions of cunnilingus gone wrong?
Bait-and-Switch Lesbians into an inappropriately drawnout snogfest for the discomfort of the protagonist? HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA........
And normally that stuff would be more than enough to put me off, but to be honest I found the characters fairly refreshingly realistic. The general dialog and delivery feels natural (at least until Jay and Silent Bob show up) and I really get a sense of these characters, with My Name Is Earl's Jason Lee as the relative highpoint for me.
He's a total dick, but I buy him. He's a very genuine dick. And I totally believe that he loves dick jokes. Dick.
Let's get serious though.
There were quite a few things that bothered me in this movie, more in subtle ways that obvious ways, but let's build up to the biggest WTFs.
Our Token Black character (whose name and actor I don't remember because I can be damned if I remember anyone's name in this one) makes some interesting points, but he sticks out unpleasantly.
He promotes Ra-Ra-Racism as a publicity stunt while hiding the fact that he's a flamboyant gay. Even trying to ignore the annoying stereotype, it drags itself back into focus in what seems to be a throwaway line:
What bothers me is the context in which this line is used since it immediately follows him irresponsibly encouraging a kid to fear and hate the "White Devil".
First off: This kid doesn't know it's a ****ing joke, he's going to grow up to be a racist little prick!
Second off: Is your question rhetorical? Because it seems that gay men instill terror in children through fearmongering other demographics.
Third off: That line seems to refer specifically to the fact that he feigns a personality, concealing his generally flamboyant one.
( o_o) I don't get that. Better to hate whitey than learn that I'm... gay? Why are the two mutually exclusive? They're entirely unrelated. And flamboyant doesn't mean gay or vice versa!
Honestly, the worst thing I can say about him is that they took the two most shallow things about him; the fact that he's gay and has dark skin, and made that his whole character.
Other stuff that bothers me are the extended conversations in which the our Love Interest argues in favor of redefining "****ing" and "virginity". Are our goals with this movie so ****ing low that this is the sort of social commentary that we're making?
REALLY???
Was it really imperative that Kevin Smith get across to audiences his personal feelings about how going knuckle-deep into a vagina totally counts as sex?
I've said it before with the whole transgender thing, the more you try to rip open existing definitions and stuff new meaning in, the less useful the words become.
Alright, so licking genitals counts as "making love" now.
Okay, so when is somebody going to argue that you can "make love" without involving genitals at all? As soon as somebody snorts derisively at the idea that "Oh, you're one of those people who equating ****ing to penetration!" I just tune out, because I cannot be ****in' bother to care about their smug sense of "open-mindedness".
I have another issue with just this general sense that bisexuals are either not a thing or a thing to be loathed and disdained. Earl Hickey's comments on "the pink mafia kicking you out" suddenly collide with reality when this circle of girls apparently CANNOT grasp the concept of one of them digging a guy.
For ****'s sake, WHAT DO YOU CARE!? WHAT IT'S ****ING TO YOU, WHAT'S THIS "ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST" CRAP!?
Oh no, she likes someone and... they have a penis and... things with penises are evil, THIS IS ONLY REINFORCING STEREOTYPES!
Our Token Black character (whose name and actor I don't remember because I can be damned if I remember anyone's name in this one) makes some interesting points, but he sticks out unpleasantly.
He promotes Ra-Ra-Racism as a publicity stunt while hiding the fact that he's a flamboyant gay. Even trying to ignore the annoying stereotype, it drags itself back into focus in what seems to be a throwaway line:
What is it about gay men that terrifies the world?
First off: This kid doesn't know it's a ****ing joke, he's going to grow up to be a racist little prick!
Second off: Is your question rhetorical? Because it seems that gay men instill terror in children through fearmongering other demographics.
Third off: That line seems to refer specifically to the fact that he feigns a personality, concealing his generally flamboyant one.
( o_o) I don't get that. Better to hate whitey than learn that I'm... gay? Why are the two mutually exclusive? They're entirely unrelated. And flamboyant doesn't mean gay or vice versa!
Honestly, the worst thing I can say about him is that they took the two most shallow things about him; the fact that he's gay and has dark skin, and made that his whole character.
Other stuff that bothers me are the extended conversations in which the our Love Interest argues in favor of redefining "****ing" and "virginity". Are our goals with this movie so ****ing low that this is the sort of social commentary that we're making?
REALLY???
Was it really imperative that Kevin Smith get across to audiences his personal feelings about how going knuckle-deep into a vagina totally counts as sex?
I've said it before with the whole transgender thing, the more you try to rip open existing definitions and stuff new meaning in, the less useful the words become.
Alright, so licking genitals counts as "making love" now.
Okay, so when is somebody going to argue that you can "make love" without involving genitals at all? As soon as somebody snorts derisively at the idea that "Oh, you're one of those people who equating ****ing to penetration!" I just tune out, because I cannot be ****in' bother to care about their smug sense of "open-mindedness".
I have another issue with just this general sense that bisexuals are either not a thing or a thing to be loathed and disdained. Earl Hickey's comments on "the pink mafia kicking you out" suddenly collide with reality when this circle of girls apparently CANNOT grasp the concept of one of them digging a guy.
For ****'s sake, WHAT DO YOU CARE!? WHAT IT'S ****ING TO YOU, WHAT'S THIS "ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST" CRAP!?
Oh no, she likes someone and... they have a penis and... things with penises are evil, THIS IS ONLY REINFORCING STEREOTYPES!
But no, my biggest issue with this movie is how these previously realistic characters SUDDENLY, just ****in' outta NOWHERE take their stupid pills as if the script was literally appended with big spots of red ink that say, "FORCE CONFLICT HERE".
So we've built up Affleck and Nasally Voice's relationship pretty well so far, right? We get a time lapse, they've spent a lot of time together, they really like each other and finally Ben's like, "Okay, I gotta tell her how I really feel about her", stops the car they're in and just says, matter-of-factly, "Look, I really like you, this is what I've been feeling lately, and I know it may be difficult to understand and I'll be totally accepting if this makes you uncomfortable and you don't wanna hang out anymore, but I just had to say it."
Totally reasonable, well articulated, emotional, but not pushy, being a nice guy, right?
Her response?
What. A ****in'. BITCH.
And you know what, it'd be one thing if they made the "I'm GAY, you idiot!" argument and stuck to it, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, she runs back and starts suckin' face like the whole conversation WAS MEANINGLESS!!!
.apine tuiovv.pncyb a,. pva,t. n uizeoutibou zoevui .o cpi n.p izeobe uib-o.ei**** you movie.
And then it goes on and on and on and on and then we have another thing where Batfleck finds out that Tonsil Hockey had a lot of freaky flings back in the day starts in on her during a hockey game after which we have an IDENTICAL SCENE in which she very articulately explains all of the different ways it shouldn't bother him and that the fact that she's settling for him now should really be telling him something.
His response?
What. A ****in'. BITCH.
These two are perfect for each other can't you tell?
I'm glad I found video clips rather than having to explain in large caps why this guy's a stubborn idiot.
FORTUNATELY, at least the second argument is eventually resolved in the sense that he learns that he was wrong thanks to a odd appearance by extremely UNrealistic characters, Jay and Silent Bob (crossing over with Clerks at this point), the latter of which being the source of some much needed humor and an overdue logic bomb.
So, Fleckman's got a job that needs doing. He's gotta resolve his friendship with both his best friend and girlfriend. Well good, it's finally time to sit down and talk it out.
So we've built up Affleck and Nasally Voice's relationship pretty well so far, right? We get a time lapse, they've spent a lot of time together, they really like each other and finally Ben's like, "Okay, I gotta tell her how I really feel about her", stops the car they're in and just says, matter-of-factly, "Look, I really like you, this is what I've been feeling lately, and I know it may be difficult to understand and I'll be totally accepting if this makes you uncomfortable and you don't wanna hang out anymore, but I just had to say it."
Totally reasonable, well articulated, emotional, but not pushy, being a nice guy, right?
Her response?
What. A ****in'. BITCH.
And you know what, it'd be one thing if they made the "I'm GAY, you idiot!" argument and stuck to it, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, she runs back and starts suckin' face like the whole conversation WAS MEANINGLESS!!!
.apine tuiovv.pncyb a,. pva,t. n uizeoutibou zoevui .o cpi n.p izeobe uib-o.ei**** you movie.
And then it goes on and on and on and on and then we have another thing where Batfleck finds out that Tonsil Hockey had a lot of freaky flings back in the day starts in on her during a hockey game after which we have an IDENTICAL SCENE in which she very articulately explains all of the different ways it shouldn't bother him and that the fact that she's settling for him now should really be telling him something.
His response?
What. A ****in'. BITCH.
These two are perfect for each other can't you tell?
I'm glad I found video clips rather than having to explain in large caps why this guy's a stubborn idiot.
FORTUNATELY, at least the second argument is eventually resolved in the sense that he learns that he was wrong thanks to a odd appearance by extremely UNrealistic characters, Jay and Silent Bob (crossing over with Clerks at this point), the latter of which being the source of some much needed humor and an overdue logic bomb.
So, Fleckman's got a job that needs doing. He's gotta resolve his friendship with both his best friend and girlfriend. Well good, it's finally time to sit down and talk it out.
Ya know, it'd be GREAT if that worked in this make-believe universe, but as she goes on to point out it's just not that simple and shouldn't even be necessary to mend a relationship.
Everyone splits up and we end on an oddly drawn-out conversation of hand gestures from across a room.
Altogether? NOT as bad as I was expecting it to be, it was even pretty funny at times, but it's still chock full of the muddy relationship crap that plagues these kinds of movies.
Also, Bluntman and Chronic? At least it wasn't a stoner comedy.
Everyone splits up and we end on an oddly drawn-out conversation of hand gestures from across a room.
Altogether? NOT as bad as I was expecting it to be, it was even pretty funny at times, but it's still chock full of the muddy relationship crap that plagues these kinds of movies.
Also, Bluntman and Chronic? At least it wasn't a stoner comedy.
Final Verdict: [Meh...]