Rent Chasing Amy (1997)

The total antithesis of the usual rom-com - Chasing Amy review by CP Customer

Chasing Amy is a film which has arguably no more an adventurous plot than 'boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl.' However, in Chasing Amy, Writer and director Kevin Smith uses his special blend of off-beat characters, clever humor, and engaging dialogue to turn a simple romantic comedy into a complex, intelligent, thought provoking, and very original take on love, friendship, and the wages of jealousy. The much underrated Jason Lee is nothing short of superb and Ben Affleck gives a performance he has never since bettered. The total antithesis of the usual dreary run of the mill rom-com, Chasing Amy is a must see movie.

An Ok Watch - Chasing Amy review by CP Customer

Nice story fab actors enjoyed it was an ok film nothing great but worth a watch if nothing else on :-)

1997 Called — It Wants Its Vocabulary Back - Chasing Amy review by griggs

Chasing Amy feels like that person in 1997 who genuinely meant well, but keept putting their foot in it mid-sentence. It doesn’t so much understand queer life as circle it, talk loudly, and hope nobody asks the awkward follow-up. You can also see why people side-eye it now: the setup has that faint whiff of “lesbian meets the right man” and a bit of lesbian-panic energy baked in, even when the film is trying to be open-minded.

The ugly stuff isn’t one flavour either. Some of the homophobia comes from pure ignorance — nobody here seems to have the words for anything beyond “straight” and “gay.” Some of it is laddish posturing and wounded pride. And some of it is just straight-up homophobia, no excuses. Bisexuality is basically the concept that dare not speak its name, and you can feel the biphobia in the way everyone reacts: the straight guys treat a woman’s past like a competition they’re losing, while the gay characters can come off gatekeepy and judgemental. And the straight male characters have zero idea what sex-positivity looks like if it doesn’t revolve around their ego.

What keeps it watchable is Alyssa — and Joey Lauren Adams playing her like an actual human being, not a diagram. She’s the heart of the film, and it’s at its best when it lets her breathe instead of turning her into a “problem” to solve. Smith’s dialogue still pops too: crude, quick, and weirdly specific, like it was hammered out over beers and daft arguments.

Then you hit the infamous Exhibit A moment — Holden’s big “solution” idea near the end — and it’s like watching a lad talk himself into thinking he’s being enlightened while revealing exactly who he is. The ending doesn’t tuck everything in neatly either. It leaves a mess on the floor, which honestly feels more truthful than a cosy wrap-up. Clumsy, dated, often wrong-footed… but still with enough bite and heart to like.