Jason Mewes

Biography

Jason Mewes At the very least, Jason Mewes gives a stand-out comic performance in Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (Dimension, August 24). In an abbreviated but hyper-intense way, he's actually quite brilliant in it — hugely funny, always in character, impassioned.

That's partly because he's had a lot of practice. By my count, Mewes has played "Jay" — a mentally underdeveloped slacker-stoner type who never hesitates to say exactly what's on his mind, and in so doing always seems to cut straight into some core dramatic truth — eight times over the last seven years.

Created on the page by Kevin Smith, but essentially based on a younger version of Mewes ("� when I was maybe 16 or 17 years old," he says, when he "used to challenge people � I didn't care then"), the character has appeared in five Smith films (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and the current one), in Smith's animated Clerks TV series, in Wes Craven's Scream 3, and in an unseen indie effort called Lucy, You Love It.

I feel roughly the same way about Mewes' "Jay" as I did about Jack Black's "Barry" in last year's High Fidelity. Both characters seem completely off on their own orbit, goaded by spastic synapses, consumed by a fine madness.

Mewes, 27, isn't brilliant in the way Jim Carrey, Jack Lemmon, Stan Laurel, or early Jerry Lewis are or were. I'm thinking more of the unapologetic relentlessness of Shemp Howard or even Daffy Duck. And, in a small but significant way, of the artistry of James Cagney.

I don't have the exact quote, but Cagney once defined good screen-acting as planting your feet, looking the other character in the eye, and telling the truth. Mewes accomplishes this in every scene. He never winks or shilly-shallies when he says his lines; he delivers each one with complete sincerity. Does he invest Jay with depth and sensitivity? Does he give the character a sympathetic, Chaplin-like emotionality? No � but when has he ever seemed fake or anything other than himself?

Welded at the hip throughout Jay and Silent Bob with Smith's mostly (but not entirely) non-verbal, Greek chorus-like character, "Jay" never flinches or hesitates. He speaks only in raw fundamentals. When he runs into Jason Biggs toward the end, he says without hesitation what each and every one of us would probably say to ourselves but would never have the crude honesty to articulate: "Hey, you f***ed the pie!"

And with Smith's dialogue to work with, he's funny. This is an article of faith among Smith fans. Watch this film with a group of them and you'll see what I mean. As Gen-X/Gen-Y culture goes, it's not inappropriate to call Mewes "legendary."

One definition of a movie star is someone who essentially plays the same character over and over, which people are happy to pay to see over and over. By this standard, Mewes is starting to qualify. Or will qualify, I should say. I expect Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back to get lots of repeat business, which Mewes will be able to take some credit for.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is clearly about to become the most popular Kevin Smith film ever released. Question is, how popular? And will Paramount's Rat Race — another funny one, opening two days from now — make a dent of any kind?