Jason Lee Proves Himself in Chasing Amy

In 1997, Kevin Smith cast Jason Lee as comic book creator Banky Edwards in Chasing Amy. While the story is about the relationship between Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), Banky figures in what could be called a weird love triangle.

Banky has a lot in common with Lee's Mallrats character, Brodie Bruce; both are argumentative and obnoxious. But Banky is both nastier and more vulnerable.

Banky's crankiness is evident from the very first scene in Chasing Amy, in which he's accused of being a mere "tracer" for the comic book he draws and writes with Holden (be forewarned, there's a lot of swearing):



One of the things I love about Jason Lee is his ability to make you like a character who, by all rights, should not be likable. Banky is one of those characters.

I think you'll also like this seen (also featuring way too much of the "f" word) featuring Dwight Ewell, who's a lot of fun as Hooper X, a gay black comic book artist who needs to put on a macho black pride persona to sell his comic books.



Chasing Amy is an original and thoughtful, albeit infuriating movie. I wanted to bang Holden and Banky's heads together as I watched them mess things up. But it's definitely worth a watch.

Drawing Flies

Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier financed a little-known movie called Drawing Flies in 1996. Smith cast his usual gang. Jason Lee stars as Donner, a guy who convinces his friends to venture into the Canadian wildnerness to his uncle's cabin. Unfortunately for them, he's crazy and there is no cabin.

I haven't seen the movie, but I hope to get hold of a used copy one of these days. From what I've read about it, it's a low-budget, uneven film that's best left to fans of Kevin Smith and the cast (well, that is us, after all).

It's hard to find clips of this movie, but here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Drawing Flies

Janet