Chasing Amy

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After celebrating a highly unexpected (but much-deserved) success with Clerks, followed by the critically-maligned Mallrats, Smith switched directions with this “boy meets lesbian” flick and took a big step in growth as a filmmaker. While Amy’s earlier scenes remind one of his previous efforts, Kevin switches gears halfway through the film and takes a very serious tone, which drives a good portion of the movie’s final hour (granted, there are still countless laughs, including the obligatory appearance from Askew favorites Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith), but by and large, the relationship issues between Holden & Alyssa come before Smith’s trademark (and self-proclaimed) penchant for “dick and fart jokes”, putting Chasing Amy into a league all its own. Critics agreed. The film was View Askew’s biggest box office success (before Dogma) and restored critics faith in Smith after many had turned their back due to Mallrats.

Chasing Amy also has the distinction as being the flick that really inspired the start of this website, as the idea to start an Askew-themed site came right after seeing Amy for the first time on the big screen (it’s a long story).

In the film’s opening scene, we’re introduced to Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) & Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), creators of the comic series “Bluntman & Chronic” (whose characters resemble a familiar-looking View Askew duo) signing their books at a comic convention. Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), another comic creator (though of the female variation), to whom Holden takes an immediate liking. As Holden’s interest in Alyssa grows, so does Banky’s resentment, until, in a hilarious and alarming scene, Holden discovers that Alyssa is a lesbian. Banky’s comfort level immediately returns, while Holden suddenly feels embarrassed and upset. Alyssa, however, doesn’t want to leave it at that, so she travels to New Jersey to confront Holden. After spending some time together, Holden can no longer suppress his feelings towards Alyssa and, in a touching, memorable scene (the one most critics cited when discussing Smith’s growth as a writer/director), Holden confesses his love to her. Alyssa’s love for Holden is stronger than she realizes as well, and the two become a couple, much to Banky’s chagrin. The three soon discover that the road ahead is anything but simple (as the one-sheet’s tagline read: “Sex is easy. Love is hard.”).

And so, finally, after countless rumors and delays, fans can finally own a copy of Chasing Amy on DVD, completing their collection of Kevin Smith flicks (Clerks, Mallrats, and Dogma all being currently available in the format). While still slightly inferior to the Mallrats DVD, which was built basically from scratch as a DVD Special Edition, the Chasing Amy disc takes practically all of its extra material from the Criterion laserdisc that arrived the winter after the film’s release. Let’s take a look at the major categories of stuff on the disc and see how it all breaks out.

Chasing Amy has been restored to an amazing picture, supervised by DP Dave Klein. The video is presented in its original 1:85 format, enhanced for widescreen televisions like the one that was used to review this disc. Aside from the occasional film grain and pops that exist on the master, the picture has been painstakingly cleaned up and looks beautiful. The grain which is inherent when film stock of this type is used isn’t even that noticeable, albeit in a few scenes, particularly the “rain scene” with Holden & Alyssa, and for some reason on the table of the diner where the two eat at just before, but again, this isn’t a product of bad mastering, it’s the way the film looks. It’s a real treat to have the film 16:9 enhanced. Having already seen the laserdisc supplements, for us, the video quality of this disc is by and large the reason to own it. This is a fine, fine transfer, especially considering the film’s budget and filming style. It looks just fantastic, in fact, we don’t think it could look better.

Chasing Amy’s presented with just 2 audio tracks: A 5.1 Dolby Digital track lifted directly from the Criterion laserdisc, and a commentary track (ditto) which we’ll elaborate on in a bit. Like all of Kevin’s movies, the dialogue comes first, so most of the flick’s sound is focused on the front channels, primarily the center. The rear surround channels are seldom active, used mostly for crowd and music background noise, but then, very faint in general. No split surround effects were noticed, though it would detract from the film to use such a device, anyway. The LFE channel’s surprisgly active during the film’s musical interludes, primarily the opening credits, and scenes which take place in clubs. Bass and surround also get a nice workout during the hockey game scene in the film’s final half hour, clearly the chapter to check out for a good indication of how the disc sounds. All in all, as on the laserdisc, the audio mix is adequate, no real surprises, but it does what’s intended. It would have been nice for the surround channels to have been a bit louder on a few occasions, as they’re barely noticeable during most of the film, but again, you don’t think of audio so much with a movie like this.

COMMENTARY :

The joy of a new View Askew production on DVD is really the chance to sit down and hear these folks weave together a commentary track. Commentaries on View Askew discs are not only informative, but they’re damn funny, and usually contain just as many laughs themselves as the movie on its own. The track used here is the same recorded about two years ago, though not much has changed since, so it still plays out quite well (except for Kevin’s famous comments on the DVD format, details below in the extras section). This track features Kevin Smith (Director), Scott Mosier (Producer), Ben Affleck (Actor), Vincent Pereira (VA Historian), Jason Mewes (Actor), and Bob Hawk (Producer). Over the course of the film’s two hours, you’ll learn lots of interesting tidbits about filming, things that were cut, stuff that happened on the side, and more. You’ll hear Mosier’s Sean Connery impression, endless gushing over Joey Adams’ performance (it was good, but pretty damned excessive — Coincidentally, Affleck & Lee both went on to huge film careers after Amy, where’s Joey?), and even all of the little things that Kevin says bother him about the flick (particalarly lines he would have changed). It’s a fun, fascinating commentary, and like always, you feel like you’re in the room with these guys, sitting on the couch and watching the flick. The atmosphere they put together is always relaxed and fun, backing up our claim that a View Askew commentary ranks among the best in the DVD/laserdisc arena, hands down.

THE MENUS :

While there was a bit of confision over who would actually stamp their name on the disc, from the initial menu it’s simple to see that this is, indeed a Criterion Collection disc. And rightfully so, since the majority of the material on the disc was paid for and produced by Criterion back in 1997 for the laserdisc release. The menus are, of course, all new, with music from the film or actual scenes clouded-in behind the title selections. The various comic book pages from the film’s opening float around the title menu screen as Dave Pirner’s title music plays. Chapter selection screens play highlights from the film in the background. Menus slide in and out of the screen with comic book-like sound effects. The menu navigation is nothing revolutionary like some of the animated menus on titles lately, but it’s certainly not bad, either. Titles are clearly marked and navigation is simple and sensible. We’ve included some shots of the new menus above, as always, click any of the shots for a closer look.

OTHER EXTRAS :

Having seen the Criterion laserdisc almost 2 years ago, we weren’t quite as excited as many folks to take a look at this portion of the disc, only because we’d seen the extra scenes, outtakes, and the like countless times before. Don’t let our lack of enthusiasm fool you, though. Like Clerks and Mallrats before it, Kevin, Scott, Vincent, & crew have taken every small bit of cut footage (and even some outtakes) for inclusion on the disc.

First of all, we’ve got deleted scenes. Boy, do we ever. Kevin’s flicks are notoriously long on the page, but he’s always quick to sacrifice large chunks for the sake of running time, which is likely easier now that he knows the scenes will have new life on DVD editions. There’s some great stuff here, including the film’s original opening scene (featuring Walt & Steve-Dave as comic shop owners with a contempt for Holden & Banky), a touching story told by Alyssa in the “darts” scene, a completely cut scene featuring Ileana Douglas (of “Action” fame, among other flicks) as Alyssa’s roommate, some classic Holden & Banky dialogues (the extended Sega hockey scene being a particular favorite), and lots more. Perhaps even more fun than the scenes themselves are the introduction sequences to each of them, featuring Kevin Smith, Scott Mosier, Jay Mewes, and Ben Affleck, filmed in the old “Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash”. Sometimes they’ll explain why a scene was cut, though eventually the introductions just give Affleck a chance to argue why his scenes should have stayed intact (great fun to watch), or Jay the opportunity to goof off. It’s this personal touch that really makes this disc (as well as the others in the Askewniverse) so special. The deleted scenes also had an into and an outtro on the laserdisc and, thankfully, these are also intact on the DVD and cleverly play in the menu background as you select a deleted scene. It would have been a neat touch to have the intro to each deleted scene play in this same format, as part of the menu itself, but that’s just being picky. In addition to that, a “play all” button would also have been convenient, rather than having to pick each scene one by one for their initial viewing (as most DVD owners tend to go through all the deleted scenes when they first spin up a disc, anyway). But again, we’re just picky.

An outtakes reel is also included on the disc, a first for a View Askew production (though we hope to see one on the forthcoming Dogma SE this fall). This isn’t a professional “gag reel” or anything, just a string of stuff that the guys came across while going through old footage to put together the laserdisc. And, as with most special edition DVDs, the disc of course contains the film’s original theatrical trailer and a stills gallery from production.

Finally, the one large bit of NEW material on this DVD (aside from the transfer itself) is a special introduction by Kevin Smith himself. Recorded a few months ago, Kevin explains what you’re viewing on the DVD (and the fact that laserdisc owners are getting rooked because the disc is exactly the same), and also explains a comment he made during the running commentary. Because the laserdisc track was lifted exactly, and the gang never imagined the film would see a DVD release as well, they make several comments to laserdisc’s reigning supreme and Kevin in particular says “Fuck DVD”, which would have confused a casual viewer who didn’t understand where the commentary came from. At any rate, Kevin as always humorously explains that he would NEVER have said such a thing and that it must have been someone else on the track. We’re glad they left the comment in, it would have been silly to censor a commentary track or re-record dialogue for something so trivial. And the new introduction is a lot of fun.

We’re happy to report that the Chasing Amy DVD does not disappoint. If you own the Criterion laserdisc, chances are you’ll want to own this DVD if only for the bit of new material, the nice menu structure, and the beautiful new transfer. If you don’t own the laserdisc, chances are you’ve got the disc in your hand by the time that you read this. If not, consider this the News Askew seal of approval: Go out and pick it up. You know you want it. And you’re in for a real treat with another fun commentary track, some fantastic deleted material, outtakes, and more. The circle is complete. All 4 of Kevin Smith’s directorial efforts on DVD. And with the Jersey Trilogy Special Editions being this good, we can hardly wait to see what’s in store for this fall’s Dogma: Special Edition. We’ll see you then, and also with a review of Vincent Pereira’s A Better Place Special Edition DVD, soon.