The View Askewniverse is Kevin Smith’s own personal cinematic universe, where he gets to indulge in his brand of slice-of-life dramedy while making as many nerdy jokes as he wants. The Jay and Silent Bob movies are unique in this series because they’re the only self-aware entries that also celebrate everything about the Askewniverse, which is also the case for Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
This being the direct sequel to Strike Back, Reboot is obviously loaded with references to the previous movies along with a gaggle of returning characters and gags. Here are 10 connections to the View Askewniverse in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot that you may have missed.
200 Bucks, Little Man
One of the most quotable moments in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back saw Jay rapping to a pair of teenagers who wanted to buy some weed. The rap’s lyrics were basically Jay’s sales pitch, where he just demands to be paid for a nickleback’s worth of marijuana.
The song and the teens (still played by the now-adult Jake Richardson and Nick Fehlinger) return in Reboot, where they are revealed to be the owners of the Kush Boys: an incredibly successful retailer in the cannabis business. When Jay and Silent Bob ask for some free weed for old time’s sake, the two demand to be paid and sing a familiar rap as payback for the time Jay nearly beat them up for taking the name of Morris Day in vain.
Jay & Silent Bob: The Animated Slackers
When Reboot opens, one of the logos to appear is that of the View Askew production company. The logo’s animation stars a familiar monochrome clown from Clerks’ opening seconds, who’s then trampled by Reboot’s cast. Notably, these characters are animated in the same art style used for Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie!
Also scattered throughout Chronic-Con are standees and posters of the animated Jay, Silent Bob, Bluntman and Chronic. Though the View Askewniverse’s animated exploits didn’t last long, it’s nice to see it come back in Reboot – even if it’s just background decoration.
God Looks Like Alanis Morissette
More than once and probably to impress whoever he’s talking to, Jay mentions that God is a woman and she looks like famous singer Alanis Morissette. This is obviously a nod to God’s depiction in Dogma, where God is indeed a woman who does look like Alanis Morissette.
Of the View Askewniverse’s movies, Dogma is the most fanciful as it deals with literal versions of the Christian faith including angels, demons, hell, and heaven. Morissette/God only appears in Dogma’s last act and doesn’t return in Reboot, although it’s obvious that none of the characters forgot about Her.
The Cocknocker Strikes Back
The titular reboot of the latest Jay and Silent Bob road trip is the in-universe Bluntman v Chronic, which is a dark and gritty reimagining of the superhero movie that the resident stoners inspired in Chasing Amy and Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. In the reboot’s teaser scene, a familiar fist breaks down a wall before cutting to black.
This is, of course, the Cocknocker’s fist. Cocknocker was the superhero duo’s archenemy and was memorably played by Mark Hamill. Sadly, Hamill didn’t reprise the role so instead, his foot soldiers serve as the film’s antagonists.
Familiar Establishments
The View Askewniverse takes place in the same few blocks of New Jersey real estate, so it’s not surprising that some fan-favorite establishments make a comeback. Every now and then, Jay and Silent Bob would drop by a Mooby’s for a quick snack – Mooby’s, of course, being the main setting of Clerks II. A bittersweet return, though, is the Eden Prairie Center Mall, which fans will remember as the backdrop of Mallrats.
The mall has since fallen into disrepair, and Brodie relocated his comic shop into the mall where he once wreaked havoc because the rent’s a lot cheaper there. Similarly, the RST Video rental shop beside the Quick Stop has now been replaced by a Redbox that Jay and Silent Bob frequent. Brodie off-handedly mentions that renting is a thing of the past, surprised that the two never heard of Netflix and chill. Don’t worry; the Quick Stop is still around.
Zack & Miri Made A Porno In The View Askewniverse
While he may be known for creating the View Askewniverse, not all of Kevin Smith’s movies take place in it. One exception was Zack & Miri Make A Porno, which has now been retroactively canonized in the Askewniverse thanks to an unexpected cameo.
In Reboot, Justin Long reprises the role of Brandon St. Randy, the gay porn actor who has now become Saban Films’ legal representative. Brandon gets Jay and Silent Bob off the hook but blindsides them when he tricks them into signing away the legal rights to their names.
Rosario Dawson
There are a lot (and we mean a lot) of celebrity cameos in Reboot, one of them being Rosario Dawson. Dawson portrays Reggie, Justice’s wife who Jay thought would be a guy after hearing her name.
Even if they share the same actress, Reggie shouldn’t be confused with Becky Scott, Dawson’s role in Clerks II. Though nothing has been confirmed yet, our fingers are crossed that Dawson returns as Becky in the upcoming Clerks III, where she’d (presumably) still be married to Dante Hicks.
Dante Shouldn’t Be Here
The character who started the entire View Askewniverse, Dante Hicks, returns for a quick cameo in Reboot where he unsurprisingly complains about being in the wrong time and place. Long-time Askewniverse fans know that the line “I’m not even supposed to be here!” is basically Dante’s catchphrase, and he utters it at least once every time he appears in an Askewniverse entry.
This time around, he says it when he finds himself in the middle of a drug bust where Jay and Silent Bob are the police’s targets. Also, in the post-credits scene, the source of Dante’s frustration about some jerk sticking gum in the convenience store’s locks is finally answered: it’s all Jay’s fault.
Silent Bob Speaks
As his name suggests, Silent Bob doesn’t talk and is occasionally assumed to be mute. In Reboot, he speaks mostly through emojis on his phone. But as fans know, Silent Bob isn’t actually voiceless and usually saves his voice for the movie’s biggest dramatic moments.
As per tradition, this happens again in Reboot, although his speech isn’t an emotional revelation like in Chasing Amy and Clerks or that time he snapped at Jay in Strike Back. Here, Silent Bob verbally insults members of Chris Jericho’s (yes, really) little Ku Klux Klan meeting. We’re not saying it wasn’t fun to watch, though.
The Cast Questions The Audience… Again
When Jay and Silent Bob visit Brodie to ask him for some input on their precarious situation, the comic book shop owner explains the concept of a reboot. The group concludes that reboots are lazy cash-grabs that exploit an audience’s nostalgia, right before staring at the audience and judging them for buying tickets to a reboot of Jay and Silent Bob.
Basically, this is an almost shot-for-shot remake of the same gag from Strike Back, where Holden wonders who’d be dumb enough to want a feature-length version of Jay and Silent Bob… right before he and the stoners judge the audience for doing exactly that. Additionally, the website Movie Poop Shoot from this scene returns for Reboot.
