Smith’s masterpiece, one where he brought all his gifts together – brilliantly witty dialogue, real heart, social issues, pop culture, swearing, bawdiness. He’s backed with a strong concept and decent story – something his films don’t always have. He starts with a set up and world he knows – two friends, one sensitive the other abrasive, are enjoying success as comic book writers. Then he introduces a new element – a hot girl, who the sensitive guy falls for. She turns out to be a lesbian. They become good friends and he falls for her; she ends up getting with them two. This twist has been criticised by the overly sensitive but it’s totally consistent with the girl’s character – and also without it you’d only have a first act. Act two is short – they’re in love – and act three comes with the revelation the girl has slept with guys. Smith manages a decent climax with the suggestion of a threesome – one last jolt.
You could film this tomorrow – you just might have to update the references and add mobile phones. The three lead characters are all brilliant etched, there’s a stand out support character with Hooper (three, if you throw in Jay and Silent Bob). Clever ways of adding production value – a song in a night club, a comic con. The script includes bits that weren’t shot – a funny cameo from John Sloss, the boy’s lawyer; the appearance of a militant lesbian friend of the girl’s; lots of montages. All good trims.
It’s frustrating Smith has never dug this deep emotionally. He could have with Jersey Girl but he didn’t have a Jason Lee character, and wrote about a world and situations he didn’t know first hand (i.e. being a publicist as opposed to a writer, having an older daughter as opposed to a little one, being widowed instead of married). Here everything was close to the bone and it paid off in spades. A classic.
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