Kevin Smith's third film was critically acclaimed for its adroitness in balancing complex, adult sexual issues with jokes about bodily functions. The two Garden State guys this time around are Holden (Ben Affleck) and Banky (Jason Lee). At a comic book convention, the co-creators of "Bluntman and Chronic" meet Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams), a New Jersey native who draws a comic entitled "Idiosyncratic Routine." Holden thinks they click, but proceeds to discover that Alyssa is a lesbian--then manages to convince her to take a chance on him anyway. The real conflict comes when Holden gets hung up on Alyssa's checkered sexual past. What's more, Banky mounts an anti-Alyssa campaign whose intensity and bile Holden can't understand. The script came out of Smith's real-life relationship with Adams, and represents a flowering of the themes of friendship and sexual jealousy which the director first explored in CLERKS. Smith fans can rest assured, however, that STAR WARS is discussed (this time as a racist allegory) and that Jay and Silent Bob do appear to dispense relationship wisdom (and collect royalties for their comic book likenesses).
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