Filmed in a New Jersey convenience store for under $30,000, few people expected Kevin Smith's 1994 debut "Clerks" to become a cult success.
Fewer still thought that two of the film's supporting characters, loudmouth stoner Jay (Jason Mewes) and his orally constipated sidekick Silent Bob (played by Smith himself), were destined for stardom. But just seven years later, Jay and Silent Bob are on the verge of cementing their reputation as the Laurel and Hardy of 21st century Hollywood.
"Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" is planned to be both the crowning glory of these two characters and their final bow. After starring in all of Kevin Smith's comedies - "Clerks", "Mallrats", "Chasing Amy", and "Dogma" - Jay and Silent Bob have finally reached the end of the road. As Kevin Smith has joked, "I'm 30 now, and it's the right moment to move on to something completely different, to totally new characters - like maybe Ray and Silent Phil, for example."
In each of Smith's previous films, Jay and Silent Bob have had a peripheral role, commenting on the action from the sidelines like some contemporary Greek Chorus (albeit a foul-mouthed one).
As a result of their unexpected cult popularity, Smith decided to make them the main characters in his latest project - a comic road movie in which Jay and Bob travel to Hollywood to sabotage the filming of the Bluntman and Chronic cartoon strip.
According to Smith, Jay and Silent Bob are "two idiots at the forefront of our times, sort of like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, but not quite as bright". But it's not just Hamlet's luckless friends they owe a debt to - they're also direct descendants from the classic partnerships of Hollywood comedy like Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, and - most obviously - those 70s/80s stoners Cheech and Chong.
Given the US success of their Hollywood satire, the odds are that this isn't Jay and Silent Bob's last screen appearance... whatever Smith might say.
