I have a feeling this will probably be a long write up so I’ll try to keep it shorter here. The Criterion Collection, for the uninitiated is a curated line of home media content (4K, Blu-Rays and DVD) with a focus on preserving ‘important classic and contemporary films on home video’. Over 40 years of operation, it has garnered a cult following for its eclectic selection of foreign film, classics and importantly, the introduction of a larger audience to smaller indie productions.
This week I picked up my first Criterion DVD, Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy, the directors only entry into the collection. As much as I would like to pretend I have ever so carefully selected a first film for my collecting endeavours, it only cost me seven dollars (Not including the other DVD which I had to throw out to replace the case because it was so gross). Chasing Amy interestingly comes up a lot in conversations about films that should not have realistically made it to the collection. Quite honestly, I was very curious to look at Chasing Amy, because for reasons I’ll shortly outline, the movie simultaneously captures a very brief moment in time, which I’m glad we have moved on from, but also is oddly assertive today, particularly with the addition of the documentary Chasing Chasing Amy.
This review contains spoilers for the film.
Chasing Amy follows Holden, a comic book artist played by Ben Affleck, who falls desperately in love with Alyssa, a lesbian, played by Joey Lauren Adams (notably not a lesbian). Already you have your obvious reasons for controversy. There is a great scene in here where, after Holden confesses he is in love with Alyssa, in a notably long excruciating scene as he uses every romantic cliche in the book. Alyssa gets out of his car, in the rain and absolutely tears into him. It’s a satisfying payoff, and a great speech from her, as his behaviour is as she says, totally unfair, and just the most tired stereotype, it bores me to right about it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long as immediately following this, she runs back to Holden, and they share the typical rom-com kiss in the rain, although this film precedes the rom-com era by quite a few years so it’s ahead of it’s time in that respect. But there remains the problem of Chasing Amy, to the viewer it seems that Alyssa has met the right man, and is therefore no longer a lesbian. What I actually consider more objectionable than this is the treatment of Alyssa in this relationship. It’s revealed by Jason Lee’s character Banky, that she had somewhat of a scandalous past around high school age in sleeping with men. Holden is insecure, and livid that Alyssa lied, he goes so far as to say it himself, he has no problem how many women she slept with, but he cannot live with the fact she has slept with other men. Again, not even going to analyse that, it’s been talked about to death and is frankly boring. The important context here is that director Kevin Smith was in a relationship with his lead actress Joey Lauren Adams at this time, Alyssa was written for her, he has gone on to say Holden is the only character he’s written most like him, the film was at least in part made to work through his own insecurities, much as Holden works through his.
This is where the documentary Chasing Chasing Amy comes in, and no that is not a typo that is the title. Quick background: director of the documentary Sav Rodgers gave a TED talk in 2020 on how Chasing Amy saved their life when they saw it, as a 12 year old queer kid in Kansas. With new interviews from both Kevin Smith and Joey Lauren Adams, as well as the overall presentation from a pretty objective standpoint despite the established filmmakers love for the film, it brings me to my point. Overall I very much enjoyed the documentary and throughly recommend it, (I watched it for free on Kanopy using my library card which is always good). The one on one interview with Adams comes towards the end, preceding the overall thesis of the documentary, and if you don’t want to watch the entire documentary, I at least recommend you see her perspective on everything.
In summary, as Alyssa was written for her the end of the film, where Holden and Alyssa have broken up but Holden returns to apologise, this film was Smith’s apology. Her interview follows a joint interview, and Adams comments on how conflicted she is about that, because for Smith this movie, and their relationship is clearly a fun anecdote. For her, not only was it just an unpleasant experience that was constantly relived through the press Harvey Weinstein’s involvement being employed at Miramax really defines that era of Hollywood, where Smith himself commented earlier, it again seems more anecdotal, but for women like Adams, that was their reality, for over a decade and not just from him. Again, this is why I recommend the interview, it’s important and insightful to the film, I think.
It ends with Sav Rodgers leaving Chasing Amy behind, acknowledging the importance it had in their own life, but also the impacts on Adams, and the LGBT community, which I agree with. That’s why I loved the documentary, and I can’t really understand those who are opposed to its inclusion in the collection. Of course it was a pivotal indie film breaking out moment at the beginning of the rom-com era, as well as the launch of Kevin Smith’s career, but really, for all it’s pros and cons, it undoubtedly is a time capsule to sexuality, and the cultural zeitgeist overall in 1997. It is important to capture these cultural moments, and that’s what Criterion is for really.
In addition to the film synopsis and my thoughts I obviously have to include a review of the actual Criterion release, and look at the films physical release overall. Initially released on Laserdisc then that version directly imported onto the DVD, Chasing Amy has been out of print for quite a while. Like I mentioned, it’s one of, if not the easiest Criterion release to find for cheap on eBay, a pro or a con, depending on how you look at it. The transfer is perfectly fine using a 35mm interpositive but has since been improved, although likely only marginally on Blu-Ray rerelease. The audio track is also improved there, some of the sound here given how many yelling scenes there are is quite grating, actually. In terms of special features, it includes a new video introduction from Smith, solely including to clarify a comment in the intro of the commentary originally made for the Laserdisc in which he says ‘Fuck DVD’, which made me laugh.
The commentary itself has Kevin Smith, producer Scott Mosier, actors Ben Affleck and Jason Mewes, Miramax executive Jon Gordon and View Askew historian Vincent Pereira. Again it’s fine, essentially everyone on the commentary is very early into their career, it’s honestly more just like a bunch of guys hanging out. All of the intros to the deleted scenes continue this trend. Like most Criterion releases, it also includes a booklet with some nice art from the ‘Askwinerverse’. Given the more recent release, a second commentary and the inclusion of a feature length documentary on the making of Chasing Amy, if I were to buy Chasing Amy I would personally opt for the Blu-Ray edition if you’re thinking of buying this on physical.