I imagine that there are a number of filmmakers out there who would love to make a movie just for the fun of it, to create a film just for them and the fans and to hell with everyone else. One giant in-joke, if you will. Of course, with studios always pressuring for box office success, most in the industry don't get to do this because of the obvious drawback to such a film: most of the public just won't be in on it.

Kevin Smith's "Askewniverse" films have always been just on the edge of an in-joke, with each new film building upon and referencing characters and events from the previous. These films have always had critical acclaim, but haven't done very well at the box office. It's odd, then, that a studio would give Smith 30 million dollars to top his previous efforts by creating what may be just biggest in-joke in Hollywood history.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is to film what Dennis Miller is to the news. That is to say that if you fail to have the most trivial minutiae of the Askewnivers and film in general committed to memory, you're doomed to have most of the film fly right over your head.

The film opens with baby versions of Jay and Silent Bob meeting for the first time in front of a Quick Stop convenience store (the same Quick Stop that was the setting for Clerks). The parents enter the store, leaving the two babies alone outside. Jay's mom ominously intones, "what's the worst that could happen?" Then we dissolve to present day, where we find the adult Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) in front of the store with Jay singing a rap consisting entirely of the f-word. What's the worst that could happen, indeed.

After being run off of the lot of the Quick Stop for loitering, the two miscreants visit their pal and Mallrat, Brodie (Jason Lee), at his comic shop. Brodie tells the two that Miramax is set to begin filming Bluntman and Chronic, based upon the comic book of the same name. Since Jay and Silent Bob were the inspiration for the comic, it stands to reason that they should receive some of the royalty rights. They track down Holden (Ben Affleck, reprising the role from the film Chasing Amy), one of the creators of the comic. Holden informs the two that if word on the Internet is any clue, Bluntman and Chronic will be massive. Jay and Silent Bob have no clue as to what the Internet is, so Holden introduces it to them. They discover where that a number of people have some very strong opinions against the film in general and Jay and Silent Bob in particular. Concerned with having their fine names tainted, the two decide that stopping the film is more important than a potential royalty check, and thus the Jay and Silent Bob road trip is born.

Hollywood road trips are defined by their cast of kooky characters. Given that, this film is ahead of the game already if you count Jay and Silent Bob, who themselves are the poster children for the abnormal. Yet they do manage to run into people are at least as odd as they are.

After some initial advice on hitchhiking from George Carlin and a ride from a nun (Carrie Fisher) and ends disastrously as a result of said advice, the boys find themselves at a Mooby's restaurant. There, they meet Justice (Shannon Elizabeth), who enters the scene in time to Bon Jovi's Bad Medicine. Naturally, Jay falls instantly head-over-heels in love. It turns out that Justice is riding with a group of girls (Eliza Dushku, Ali Larter and Jennifer Smith) and they all claim to be animal activists on the way to rescue test animals from a lab in Boulder. In reality, they are international jewel thieves and the animal bit is just a diversion. Jay and Silent Bob are duped into breaking in the lab while the girls go after the jewels.

The dynamic duo eventually do make it to Hollywood, where they wind up staring in the very film they came to stop. They also manage to make friends with an orangutan, meet Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (both stars of Dogma) during the filming of Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season, evade Federal Wildlife Marshall Willenholly (Will Farrell, playing a character that may be more clueless than Jay and Silent Bob) and have a lightsaber duel with Jedi master, Mark Hamill.

I can see where people not familiar with Smith's Askewniverse would be put off by this film, but for those who are fans, it's hard not to like it. For all of its vulgarity, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is really a rather kindhearted comedy in that Kevin Smith obviously has a real affection for these characters (he'd have to, given that he stars as one half of the team). He brings Jay and Silent Bob right to the edge of cruelty time and again, but they always manage to come out OK. Also, for as dumb as the film may seem on the surface, it really does require an active audience in order to work. This lends a sense of accomplishment to the comedy, a feeling of pride, if you will, in getting some of the more obscure jokes.

It all comes down to the fact that this is one of those films that you either love it or hate it. It's not art by any stretch of the definition, but it is entertainment.