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Review of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (James L. Venable)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you seek a brief orchestral souvenir from the Kevin Smith parody films
of the era, even if it doesn't even qualify as particularly memorable comedy material.
Avoid it... if you, like 99.8% of those who view this film, are interested in the numerous songs heard in the production, none of which appear on this score-only product.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: (James L. Venable) This asinine production,
advertised as the final film of director Kevin Smith's acclaimed New Jersey chronicles (a series
of cult driven urban flicks which included Clerks, Mall Rats, and Chasing
Amy), is a spin-off of some of the concepts in that series, with the popular characters of
Jay and Silent Bob deciding to get even with the world. Upon learning that a "Bluntman and
Chronic" film is going to be made about them (but without providing them with any royalties),
they set out on a journey across the country to Hollywood, where they are determined to destroy
the film. The clumsy and often drugged pair live out all their fantasies along their way,
including appearances by God, Star Wars idols, famous Hollywood stars, and countless
beautiful women who all look like casting rejects from Charlie's Angels. Then, of course,
there's the orangutan, but we won't go into that. Having already collaborated with Smith, the
relatively unknown composer James L. Venable, who had spent most of his career writing for
television, was called upon to write a farce. While even Clerks had a
Venable score previously, nothing had warranted the recording of music of this magnitude in the
series until this point. The fantasy nature of the film opened many musical doors for Venable,
who did a decent job of exploring each of them just enough to qualify the score as a farce. He
would make something of a career out of such music, causing film music collectors to release a
collective groan when seeing his name attached to a project. The music for Jay and Silent Bob
Strike Back, though, stops a few steps short of being the kind of full-blown parody effort
that could elevate compete at a level like John Powell's just previous Evolution. Perhaps
the best example of a top notch, silly parody score of that era was Muppets from Space by
Jamshied Sharifi, who incorporated a perfect blend of snazzy lounge pieces with overwhelming
orchestral sequences of harmonic bliss. Venable's score concentrates on the urban acoustics that
you would expect for the title characters, with lengthy sequences of the score devoted to hip
performances of rock band elements and their associated sounds from the 1970's and 1980's.
It is often said that the key to a successful parody score is to treat the film as if it were completely serious. Venable doesn't accomplish that style, instead allowing the tone of the score to degenerate more often than not into the realms of sleazy or outwardly comedic. Electric organs, keyboards, and countless looped rhythms punctuate several scenes of the more sensuous kind, with the girl fight at the end tearing into a full electronica statement of synthetic ruckus. Since the film also inspired a explicit-lyric song album release, the mass of movie-goers who actually went to see this film in the theatres are probably going to be more interested that song compilation, coupled with the pop rhythms on the score album. Left out of the mix during much of the score product is Venable's orchestral material. Generally speaking, the orchestral portion of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is leagues behind Sharifi's Muppets from Space, and levels out at about the lower end of John Debney's auto-pilot parody work. It may have been a worthy accomplishment in Venerable's resume at the time, but similar music has existed in better form for countless other productions. As far as statements of popular themes are concerned, Venable does snag a few measures from Star Wars action cues in "Bluntman vs. Cocknocker," but other than that, he doesn't quote enough thematic material from pop culture to make this score stand out. The orchestral title theme is an abbreviated cross between the themes of Jerry Goldsmith's The Shadow and Hans Zimmer's The Peacemaker, but it never fully expands into a lengthy enough orchestral performance to be satisfying. Unlike David Newman's Bill and Ted parody music, Venable's chorus never really takes flight either, employed in only slight, fifteen-second bursts of angelic sound. The only reflective and substantial orchestral cue on the entire album is "Are You Guys Alright?," providing a surprisingly enjoyable keyboard performance for the characters' more sensitive side. In the end, though, there simply isn't enough notable stand-alone music from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back to make many people excited about this out-of-print album (which, incidentally, had a not-so-funny release date). Unless you really need a token souvenir from the Kevin Smith films in orchestral form, you're far more likely to be interested in the song album representing this production. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 39:58
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes a list of performers, but no extra information
about the score or film.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back are Copyright © 2001, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/29/01 and last updated 2/10/09. |
