Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is, like Dogma and Clerks, a combination of both styles, though its emphasis is more on the goofy humor, as befits its stars. If a story is going to be told from the perspective of two perpetually wasted drug dealers who have spent thirty years hanging out in front of a strip mall in North Jersey, the dialogue isn't exactly going to be Shakespearean. The subtext in Jay & Silent Bob is completely unforced, but effective--the movie is set in a fanboy's wet dream, a world in which being true to yourself is always rewarded, jewel thieves look like Charlie's Angels and wear tight black leather, and Mark Hammill still has a major film career. The movie is also a screed against internet culture, pointing out the hypocrisy of people who have contributed nothing creative to the world, yet, when they finally get a forum that will let their words be heard by millions, use that forum to pick apart the hard work of others.

Cough.

This is the ultimate Kevin Smith film, an hilarious and appropriate end to his series of movies about the underappreciated creative culture of independent films, comic books, and their often unaccountably intelligent fans. Characters from the earlier works show up throughout, though most appearances are made at the beginning of the film, its sole weak part. The people who are going to see Jay & Silent Bob are familiar with Smith's earlier films, and the flurry of references to them seems forced. Believe me, when Jason Lee, as Brodie Bruce, stuck his hand down the back of his pants, I didn't need to hear the corresponding line from Mallrats--I knew it already.

But that's a small quibble, and one I've a feeling with disappear when I see Jay & Silent Bob a second time. Its strong points are overpowering--the pacing is great, the cast, faultless, and Smith even effectively silences critics of his visual ability by staging a spare but exciting sequence in a diamond vault that would fit in a Wachowski brothers movie. All of that aside, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is simply refreshing in its approach. By the end, I realized that it was the work of a man who simply loves movies, loves making them, and is grateful to have the talent and chance to do so. If there were more people out there with the attitude of Smith and his coworkers, well, maybe Hollywood wouldn't be such a big target in the first place.