| Chasing Amy | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Kevin Smith |
| Produced by | Scott Mosier |
| Written by | Kevin Smith |
| Starring | Ben Affleck Joey Lauren Adams Jason Lee Dwight Ewell Jason Mewes Kevin Smith |
| Music by | David Pirner |
| Cinematography | David Klein |
| Editing by | Scott Mosier Kevin Smith |
| Studio | View Askew Productions |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | April 4, 1997 |
| Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $250,000[1] |
| Box office | $12,021,272[2] |
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series.
The film contains explicit sexual dialogue, and was originally inspired by a brief scene from an early movie by a friend of Smith's. In Guinevere Turner's Go Fish, one of the lesbian characters imagines her friends passing judgment on her for "selling out" by sleeping with a man. Kevin Smith was dating star Joey Lauren Adams at the time he was writing the script, which was also partly inspired by her.[3]
The film won two awards at the 1998 Independent Spirit Awards (Best Screenplay for Smith and Best Supporting Actor for Jason Lee).
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Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee) are comic book artists and lifelong friends. Holden is the calmer, more reasonable of the duo; Banky, meanwhile, is the caustic and short-tempered half. Everything is going well for them until they meet Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) at a comic book convention in New York where they are promoting their comic Bluntman and Chronic. Holden is attracted to Alyssa, but soon learns that she is a lesbian. The two begin hanging out, and a deep friendship develops. Eventually, Holden is no longer able to contain his feelings, and confesses his love to Alyssa. She is initially angry with him, but that night, the two begin a romantic relationship.
This new development worsens the tension between Holden and Banky, who dislikes and distrusts Alyssa and is bothered by her and Holden's relationship. Banky investigates and uncovers dirt on Alyssa's past, and he reports to Holden that Alyssa participated in a threesome with two guys during high school, which gave her the nickname "Finger Cuffs". Holden is deeply disturbed by this revelation, having believed that he is the first man Alyssa had ever slept with. He angrily confronts Alyssa while attending a hockey game, after he clumsily attempts baiting her into confessing. During a tearful argument, she tells Holden about her "many" youthful sexual experimentations. She apologizes for letting him believe that he was the only man she had been with. However, she refuses to apologize for her past, and Holden leaves feeling angry and confused.
Later, during lunch with Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith), Silent Bob reveals that he was once in a relationship similar to Holden's. Despite the fact that he was in love with his girlfriend, Amy, his insecurities about her adventurous sexual past caused him to sabotage the relationship and leave her. Angry at himself for letting her go, he has "spent every day since then chasing Amy, so to speak."
Inspired by Silent Bob's story, Holden devises a plan to fix both his relationship with Alyssa and his fractured friendship with Banky. He invites them both over and tells Alyssa that he would like to get over her past and remain her boyfriend. He also tells Banky that he realizes that Banky is in love with him — kissing him passionately to prove the point. Holden suggests a threesome. Though initially appalled, Banky agrees to participate, whereas Alyssa explains to Holden that it will not save their relationship. Before leaving, she states that she loves him, but she will not be his whore. Banky also leaves the apartment, and summarily ends their friendship.
One year later, both Banky and Holden are busy promoting their own respective comics at a convention in New York. It is revealed that Holden has dissolved their partnership over Bluntman and Chronic, leaving the viewer with the assumption that he sold the publishing and creative rights over to Banky (which is corroborated in the beginning of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). Banky smiles sadly at seeing his old friend, who silently congratulates him for his success. Banky gestures over to a booth hosted by Alyssa, and provides wordless encouragement to Holden to go talk to her. He has a brief, quietly emotional conversation with Alyssa, and gives her a copy of Chasing Amy, his new comic based on their failed relationship. After Holden leaves, Alyssa's new girlfriend (Virginia Smith) arrives and asks who that was. A shaken Alyssa feigns indifference and replies, "Oh, just some guy I knew."
Critics have praised the film as one of Smith's best. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert also gave the film "two thumbs up," and Ebert thought it was a great improvement over Smith's previous effort, 1995's Mallrats.[4] Reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes give the film 90%.[5]
The film helped launch Affleck's career. Kevin Smith received an Independent Spirit Award for Best Original Screenplay, and Jason Lee for Best Supporting Actor. Joey Lauren Adams was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical.
On a budget of $250,000, the film grossed $12,021,272 in theaters.[1]
A special edition DVD was released with 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen picture and Dolby 5.1 surround sound. It includes the following bonus features: Audio commentary from cast and crew; Introduction by Smith; deleted scenes; outtakes; and a theatrical trailer.
Chasing Amy was originally released as a Criterion Collection Laserdisc. Smith raised eyebrows when he recorded the running commentary for the Laserdisc, as he started it by saying, "This is a Laserdisc, and I'd like to take a moment to say 'fuck DVD'." When Criterion released the DVD – which re-uses the Laserdisc running commentary – Smith recorded a special introduction in which he apologized for the comment and jokingly attributed it to Jason Mewes.
It was rumored that 2007 would see the release of a Chasing Amy X DVD, in a similar vein as the Clerks X DVD and the Mallrats: 10th Anniversary DVDs. But at Comic-Con 2007, Smith confirmed that a special "supplementary" DVD would be released the following year to go along with the Criterion Collection DVD released earlier that will just have more extras on it.[6] Smith later said Criterion rejected the idea of a special edition as being "double dipping," but he is hopeful that new featurettes can be included on a future Blu-ray Disc release of the film.[7]
Smith recently revealed at a Q&A session in Vancouver in early 2009 that he and the film's cast were currently recording new material for an upcoming Criterion Blu-ray release of the film.[8]
In Japan, the screenplay of Chasing Amy was adapted into a novel by Kenichi Eguchi and published by Aoyama Publishing. The unique concept of the book is that it is roughly half-novel, half-manga, with Moyoco Anno providing the art for the comic book pages.[9] In an episode of SModcast, Smith revealed that he, while thrilled to have a manga based on his film, was shocked when he read the novelization, as the characters' sexual histories, which are just mentioned in conversation in the film, are depicted in the novel's manga illustrations as very sexually graphic flashbacks.
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