--- title: "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" year: 2019 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot" fi1m_score: 50 critics_score: 55 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-09-19T09:43:57.857731+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T09:44:44.655461+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) Directed by Kevin Smith · 1h 45m · MPA R · Comedy, Action, Adventure **Fi1m score: 50** · Critics 55 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* A reboot about reboots that stops for applause every time someone famous walks in > Kevin Smith’s second road trip for Jay and Silent Bob is a cameo reel with one honest scene in it, shot flat and cut loose. Fans of the earlier films will have a decent night; anyone else will wonder what the fuss was about. ## Synopsis Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) are back on the pavement outside the Quick Stop in New Jersey when a court case takes away the rights to their own names. A studio is rebooting *Bluntman and Chronic*, the comic based on them, with Kevin Smith (also Kevin Smith) directing, and the pair set out for Hollywood to stop it being shown at Chronic-Con. Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee), now keeping a comic shop in a half-empty mall, explains what a reboot is. In Chicago they run into Justice (Shannon Elizabeth), who tells Jay that her teenage daughter Milly (Harley Quinn Smith) is his, and that he must never say so. Milly and her friends, Jihad (Aparna Brielle) among them, want a lift west, and take it. ## Review Eighteen years after *Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back* (2001), Kevin Smith puts the two of them back on the road to Hollywood to stop a film being made about them. The joke this time is that the film is a reboot, and so is this one, and Smith says so to camera within the first ten minutes, playing himself. What follows is 105 minutes of old friends, old gags and one thread of new feeling, made for the people who queued for [*Clerks*](https://film.one/film/clerks) (1994) and for nobody else. If that is you, there is an evening in it. If it is not, there is not. Jason Mewes has been playing Jay for a quarter of a century and he still commits to him completely, a grown man shouting about his genitals at strangers with the conviction of a preacher. He remains the engine of the film, and when the script hands him something new, a daughter he is not allowed to admit to, he plays it with a plainness that catches you off guard. Harley Quinn Smith’s Milly matches him, brash and quick, with an eye-roll that could carry a sitcom. The father-and-daughter strand is the only part of the picture that has been written rather than remembered, and it is the part that works. It works best in one scene we will not describe, in which Ben Affleck turns up as Holden McNeil from *Chasing Amy* (1997) and talks, for a few minutes, about what having a child does to a person. We went in braced for winks and came out having been moved, against our better judgement, by two middle-aged men talking quietly in a room with the camera left alone for once. Affleck plays it straight and Smith lets him. Then somebody makes a joke about masturbation and the film goes back to being what it was. What it was is a cameo reel. Jason Lee’s Brodie Bruce gets the sharpest lines and delivers them as if he had never been away, and he is responsible for most of the five or six times we laughed out loud. Brian O’Halloran’s Dante and Joey Lauren Adams’s Alyssa have a scene each and are gone. The rest is a parade of faces from Smith’s address book, each greeted by the film as if applause were expected and the scene stopped until it arrives. The road trip carrying them has three stops and no momentum, and Milly’s friends, Jihad (Aparna Brielle), Sopapilla (Treshelle Edmond) and Shan Yu (Alice Wen), are given one trait apiece and asked to make it last to Hollywood. Yaron Levy lights everything with a flat, even brightness that leaves no shadow to hide a cheap set in, so the cheapness is visible in every frame. Smith edits the film himself and it shows: scenes end a beat after the laugh, or two beats, and improvised runs are kept when they should have been cut in half. Nate Jones’s Chronic-Con, a ballroom hung with banners and filled with people in capes, is the one set with any life in it. James L. Venable scores the whole thing with the bounce of a nineties television theme, which is fair enough for a film that mostly wants to be one. Melissa Walker’s Bluntman and Chronic suits look properly ridiculous, as they should. Smith’s best films were his cheapest. *Clerks* had two men behind a counter and a script that never ran out of things for them to say. Here he has more money, more friends and less to say, and he fills the gap by pointing at his older films and waiting for us to remember them. Most critics landed about where we have, split between those who enjoyed it as a reunion and those who judged it as a film, and both groups are right. Watch it at home, with the people who know the references, and stop talking when Affleck arrives. Everything else can be talked over, and probably will be. *Fi1m score 50, published 19 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics agree on who this is for: people who know the earlier View Askew films by heart. Nearly every review calls it a nostalgia trip built from cameos, meta jokes and self-mockery, and the argument is only over whether that is a pleasure or a problem. Several critics single out the father-daughter thread and an emotional payoff they did not see coming, and a few of the stunt-cast cameos are credited with landing. The spread is wide, from a failing grade to four stars out of five. Reservations centre on the jokes, which are called flat, recycled and crude, and on a thin road-trip premise that drags. The AV Club argues Smith’s filmmaking has not matured in more than two decades, and RogerEbert.com calls it his most unfocused fan service. NME dissents most sharply, finding it better than snobbish critics allow. The two reviews that arrived later in November are noticeably warmer than the opening-day notices. ### Reviews we read (8) - **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (75/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as a shaggy, script-driven throwaway made for middle-aged View Askew fans, with meta self-mockery, gentle anarchy, and a chance for the characters to age somewhat gracefully. It passes the time amiably as a time-machine sequel, though it risks becoming too wise to stay true to its roots. [Read](https://variety.com/2019/film/reviews/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot-review-kevin-smith-jason-mewes-1203372001/) - **The AV Club**, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky (D+): The reboot is crude, lazy, and mostly for diehard fans, with painfully winking self-references and listless cameos. Smith’s filmmaking has not matured in over two decades, resulting in long stretches that are awkward and unfunny. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/only-diehards-need-bother-with-kevin-smith-s-crude-and-1839083344) - **IndieWire**, David Ehrlich (40/100, inferred): The film is a crude nostalgia trip suited only for Kevin Smith super-fans who know his earlier View Askewniverse entries by heart. It relies heavily on cameos and self-referential humor that fails to engage a broader audience. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot-review-a-crude-and-cameo-driven-nostalgia-trip-for-kevin-smith-super-fans-only-1202182317/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Simon Abrams (25/100, inferred): The critic calls the film the most uninspired and unfocused load of fan service Smith has made, a disjointed comedy that is more of an ego trip than a funny road movie. Bright spots include some stunt-cast cameos, but the recycled gags and mawkish subplots fail to land. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot-movie-review-2019) - **NME**, Greg Wetherall (4/5): The film is a fine addition to the View Askewniverse that honours fan expectations while adding subtle reflections on generational knowledge and parenthood. It is a rip-roaring, meta romp that proves better than snobbish critics suggest. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot-review-kevin-smith-2581672) - **Digital Spy**, Gabriella Geisinger (65/100, inferred): The reboot leans heavily on meta references, cameos and self-awareness to deliver laughs despite some tasteless jokes and a lazy premise. The journey offers enough weed humour and an unexpectedly emotional payoff to make it worthwhile for fans. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a29992198/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot-review-kevin-smith/) - **/Film**, Ethan Anderton (6.5/10): The critic finds it a satisfying but clumsy return to form for Kevin Smith, praising the nostalgic elements and emotional beats like the Affleck scene, while complaining about flat jokes, forced plot points, and uneven new characters. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/569798/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot-review-a-satisfying-yet-clumsy-return-to-form-for-kevin-smith/) - **Consequence** (60/100, inferred): The critic finds it a fun but messy film that leans on excessive cameos and self-aware winks, with a thin road-trip premise that drags. Strongest elements are the surprisingly effective father-daughter reflections and some inspired comic-book jokes. [Read](https://consequence.net/2019/10/film-review-jay-and-silent-bob-reboot/) ## Details - **Director:** Kevin Smith - **Director:** Kevin Smith - **Writer:** Kevin Smith - **Cinematography:** Yaron Levy - **Editor:** Kevin Smith - **Music:** James L. Venable - **Production design:** Nate Jones - **Costume design:** Melissa Walker - **Producer:** Tony Malzone, Elizabeth Destro, Jordan Monsanto - **Cast:** Jason Mewes as Jay; Kevin Smith as Silent Bob / Kevin Smith; Harley Quinn Smith as Milly; Aparna Brielle as Jihad; Shannon Elizabeth as Justice; Brian O'Halloran as Cast Member of Clerks / Dante Hicks / Grant Hicks; Jason Lee as Brodie Bruce; Ben Affleck as Holden McNeil - **Runtime:** 1h 45m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 15 October 2019 - **Genres:** Comedy, Action, Adventure - **Budget:** $10 million - **Box office:** $1 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jitRI_4Tjkg ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - Pluto TV: free - Amazon Prime Video: free - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: add-on - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $9.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $9.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HU, IE, IL, IN, IT, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, PA, PL, PT, SE, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Clerks* (1994), Fi1m 82: Where it started: two men, one counter, and a script that never runs dry — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/clerks.md) - *Chasing Amy* (1997): Smith’s one film about adults, and the reason the Affleck scene here lands - *Up in Smoke* (1978): Cheech and Chong drive a van made of marijuana; the template, still funnier - *Withnail and I* (1987), Fi1m 88: Two wasters on a road trip, written by someone who kept every line — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/withnail-and-i.md) - *Bill & Ted Face the Music* (2020): Another ageing double act with daughters, and it knows when to stop the joke --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/jay-and-silent-bob-reboot