When Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) discover that the Bluntman and Chronic movie is going to be rebooted they travel to Hollywood to stop it being made.

Writer/director/actor Kevin Smith’s View Askewniverse is probably a hard sell to those not already paid up members but I will attempt to explain its merits anyway. Way back in 1994 Kevin Smith burst onto the scene with an ultra low budget black and white comedy called Clerks which featured the eponymous Jay and Silent Bob. One foul mouthed stoner and one mute stoner who hung out next to the local convenience store and were peripheral characters in a day in the life of two low paid store clerks. Smith went on to include them and a wider cast of recurring characters in Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks 2 and even an animated series. This film is a mocking take on the Hollywood tendency to reboot films with it essentially rebooting Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and following a very similar story.

If you want to dip your toes in this world for the first time, this is absolutely not the film to do it! The entire plot structure and humour is entirely predicated on you having an understanding of what has gone before and the characters involved. In fact, a knowledge of the actors, creative people behind these films and Kevin Smith’s personal life and friends even goes a long way to actually being able to enjoy a lot of the jokes. So if you weren’t supposed to have been here today, know who Holden McNeil is and that Kevin Smith really hated his time making Bruce Willis film Cop Out then this is for you. Otherwise go and treat yourself to Smith’s earlier, funnier films first.

The opening twenty minutes are really great fun with Brian O’Halloran returning as Dante Hicks and Jason Lee’s return as Brodie particular highlights. It subsequently gets bogged down with the introduction of Kevin Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith as a new character in the series. The recreation of the four girls in a van whilst on a mission plot from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Is frankly quite dull but the film picks up again when they arrive at Chronic-Con. The cameos come thick and fast with some fitting in more than others. Matt Damon’s Loki’s appearance makes very little sense and feels incongruous whilst Ben Affleck’s Batman jokes are frankly brilliant because as everyone knows, “he was the bomb as Batman”. The entirety of the credits features out takes and even a cameo from the late Stan Lee who featured in Mallrats.

Technically it seems as though Smith has never really improved as a director in the last 25 years and is far more interested in quirky humour and fun than craft. I find it rather clunky now to see conversations with people where the camera just switches between alternate front on angles of giving no sense of them actually being in the same room at the same time.

This is not for new initiates. Fans will definitely get some enjoyment although there will always be a nagging feeling that Smith never lived up to that early promise. Snoochie Boochies!