Having discovered that the comic book based on them, Bluntman and Chronic, is to be made into a big-budget movie, Kevin Smith movie regulars Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Smith) head out on aroad trip to Hollywood to stop its production and cause as much mayhem as they can along the way.

It’s a ceaseless, breathless, monumentally tasteless onslaught of visual gags, in-jokes, anti-Hollywood jabs and good-natured, foul-mouthed high spirits. Mewes, who’s often been the highlight of Smith’s films, is given centre-stage, and carries the film with insouciant, over-caffeinated ease, his barrage of swearing and sexual references often achieving an almost musical quality.

Along with the usual Star Wars references, Smith takes several well-aimed shots at the movie industry, most notably in the segment where Ben Affleck and Matt Damon snipe mercilessly at each other on the set of “Good Will Hunting II”.

Fans of Kevin Smith will relish a whole substrata of references to Clerks, Chasing Amy, Mallrats and Dogma (including the Buddy Christ), although there’s enough colour, movement and action to keep non-fans who in the mood for some broad, loud comedy satisfied.

The host of terrific cameos ncludes Jason Biggs trying to escape the infamy of the pie-poking scene in American Pie, Seann William Scott as an angelic guitar-playing airhead, and Chris Rock as an angry black man who claims to have invented Sesame Street. — Jim Schembri