Chasing Amy (dir. Kevin Smith, 1997)
Chasing Amy is, to this day, still considered to be Smith’s best movie, and I agree. This is the film with the biggest heart, the frankest discussions about sex, and how the heart and the genitals can be, sometimes, inextricably linked. The film is smart, intelligent, heartfelt, and very, very funny. But still dirty; there is a wonderful scene wherein a lesbian and a straight man discuss the dangers of cunnilingus, and display the injuries they had both obtained in flagarante de lick, if you will.
The protagonist of our story is a comic book writer and artist named Holden (Ben Affleck), who makes comics with his best friend Banky (Jason Lee). They are both just rounding 30, meaning they’re ready for long-term relationships, but are inflicted with Gen-X immaturity and sexual conflicts. Holden finds himself falling for the cherubic Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams), also a comic book writer, and, frustratingly for Holden, a lesbian. Her sexuality may be clear to the audience, but to Banky and Holden, it’s a little opaque until they see her smooching her girlfriend.
In 1997, queer film was just hitting the mainstream, so a film about a straight man falling for a lesbian was still something of a novelty; this was when gay characters were shifting from “sidekick” and “supporting best friend” territory into actual main character territory.
To complicate things, though, Alyssa finds herself also falling for Holden. Indeed, Alyssa and Holden open their hearts, find they are in love, and begin dating in earnest. This shocks Alyssa’s lesbian friends, and outrages Banky, who is angered but clearly jealous of Holden’s new romance. You would think that this story would confirm an old and offensive stereotype about female sexuality – in short: that every lesbian is just waiting for the “right man” to come along. But Chasing Amy is no male fantasy. The characters are too well-realized for that, and the story takes too many turns. Indeed, Holden, for a bit, likes to think of himself as the “man who turned the lesbian,” but Alyssa’s past comes to light, and makes her more complex than we realized.
“Lesbian” is not a category of porn. “Lesbian” is a real class of real people with real emotions and real loves and real struggles and real habits. Sexuality is just a thing.
The twist: Alyssa has had many, many sexual partners of both sexes, and even has some lingering rude nicknames left over from high school. Alyssa has come to accept her past, and move into a sex-positive headspace with Holden, but Holden is too uncomfortable with her past. His insecurity threatens to tear them apart. Not to mention Holden’s relationship with Banky. By the film’s end, Holden is not let off the hook, and things may not end up so rosy for anyone. Chasing Amy is one of the best romances of the ’90s.
How does this film link to the others? Well Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) appear as well, albeit for only one scene. There are also references to other characters (Banky once went down on Brandi from the last film, etc.). I should perhaps indicate that Silent Bob isn’t always so silent. In each film he has one or two lines of choice dialogue, offering wisdom to the main characters. He’s like a stone Buddha in a lot of ways, and not just because Smith is a heavy dude. In Clerks, he offered some relationship perspective to Dante. In Mallrats, he makes a Star Wars joke. Chasing Amy takes the joke to its logical extreme, giving Silent Bob an entire monologue about how men behave, and how lessons need to be learned before a real relationship can be maintained. He gives the film its title. You lose a girl, and from then on, you’re just chasing Amy.
Next week, we’ll return with Dogma, Kevin Smith’s playful and salient comment on hard-line religion (yes, he was raised Catholic), Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, all about the connective tissue characters, and end with Clerks II, the final word on the matter. Unless Clerks III gets made.
Until then, snoogins.
Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. You can read his weekly articles Trolling, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
