Kevin Smith loathes pretension–he would rather his movies suffer than put on film school airs. Critics vilify his point-and-shoot directorial style and his studiously unsophisticated characters, but he will not compromise. He will not take himself seriously, and to those who do, he shows no mercy. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is an act of defiance, a distillation of everything Smith’s circle of fans love and those outside the circle hate. Allegedly the final movie set in the “View Askewniverse,” it moves Jay and Silent Bob, the convenience-store-dwelling Greek chorus in Smith’s previous movies, to the center of the action. Gone are any suggestion of real drama (a la Ben Affleck’s speech in Chasing Amy), any attempt to aim for a mainstream audience, and any tact. Homosexual advocacy groups have criticized the protagonists’ crude homophobia, but they’re missing the point. Smith realizes, as so few Hollywood liberals do, that the best way to fight bigotry is not to make self-important speeches (or movies), but simply to make it seem ridiculous. In this wildly uneven series of hilarious set-pieces, Smith sticks pins in many balloons—Miramax, the Utah police, internet movie sites (hey, wait a minute!)—but as always, to his credit, he pops his own right along with them.