KEVIN SMITH'S THlRD FILM AS A writer-director-actor hyphenate is going to piss off a lot of 
politically cor-rect people. It's a love story between two cartoonists: Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren 
Adams), a lesbian, and Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), a straight guy. See my point? Hang on. Smith's 
second film, Mallrats, pissed off a lot of people, too. That's because it wasn't as good as his 
first film, Clerks. In fact, Mall-rats really sucked.

Chasing Amy, the last in Smith's New Jersey trilogy, is very good indeed. It's a rude blast of 
gleeful provocation, a farce about emotional painy a drama about sexual slapstick. At the Sundance 
Film Festival screening, those who didn't join in the standing ovation at the end bristled at Smith 
for pretending he knew anything about lesbians. Smith seemed to enjoy the shit storm he'd stirred up.

The plot kicks off with Holden and his roommate, Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), at a cartoonist 
convention. Banky is straight, or maybe he isn't, but I'm jumping ahead. Their comic book, Bluntman 
and Chronic, impresses Alyssa. Holden is likewise impressed with her. After a failed stab at 
friendship, they try sex. Banky is appalled, as are Alyssa's lesbian friends. Holden isn't jealous 
of women, but when he hears of Alyssa's former sexual acrobatics with other men, he freaks out. 
To resolve the amatory confusion, he invites Alyssa and Banky to join him in a three-way. The suggestion 
makes nobody happy.

Adams may overdo her smile, but she delivers Alyssa's stand on sexual politics with bewitching 
persuasiveness. Afileck and Lee find a dynamic in the friendship of Holden and Banky that allows 
for hu-mor and hurt. The inspiration for their lives and their comic book are Jay, played by Jason 
Mewes, and Silent Bob, played by Smith. The duo is featured in all three Smith movies, but never 
with more pointed fun than here, as Silent Bob ex-plains to Holden what it means to be chasing an Amy. 
Wisdom, man, and comic nirvana. 

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