Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

Buddy Love

Tags: Blog-a-thon, Comedy, Love, Valentine, Romance

NOTE: This post is a contribution to the Lovesick Blog-a-thon at 100 Films. *Beware of many spoilers from all of the Kevin Smith Films.* Happy Valentines Day. Enjoy the read, listen to Elton John’s “Your Song” or “Something” by the Beatles, and tell someone that you love them.

I always thought that it was weird when kids in elementary school would hand out Valentines to everyone in the class, even to the ones of the same sex—not in the homophobic sense, but merely in a confused sense. In high school, I made a point of having very few male friends; I wasn’t a “buddy” guy. I didn’t go out drinking with a bunch of dudes, “checking out chicks,” and certainly never watched any “buddy movies” with them. Looking back, I think I was a little too harsh on those guys, but more so, on those movies.

What is a “buddy movie” but merely a heterosexual love story between two men? Or perhaps a clearer, more accurate phrasing would be calling it a non-sexual love story between two men.

Kevin Smith has made a career out of “buddy movies,” or at least films that incorporate that theme into their stories. Just look at Randal and Dante of the Clerks films, T.S. and Brodie of Mallrats, Banky and Holden of Chasing Amy, Loki and Bartleby, the Buddy Angels of Dogma, and transcending all of these and even having their own spotlight, Jay and Silent Bob. All of these examples seem to explore different themes of a close relationship: Clerks deals with jealousy and possessiveness, Mallrats shows two friends who will do anything to help the other out (including crashing game shows), Chasing Amy questions and addresses what roles we play, or are put into in our closest friendships, and Dogma deals with dedication, faith, and betrayal between two “hetero-lifemates.”

Taking a closer look at Smith’s best film, Chasing Amy, we can see that it’s not only a story about a man dealing with his new girl’s promiscuous lesbian past, but in a broader sense, it’s also about a human being trying to balance two love relationships—it’s as much about the love between Holden (Ben Affleck) and Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams) as it is about about Holden and Banky (Jason Lee). The nature of each relationship works so that when Holden and Alyssa are down, Banky and Holden are good, and when Banky and Holden are down, Holden and Alyssa are good. It becomes increasingly obvious as the film progresses that, in the state that they’re all in, there’s no way the three can coexist, which leads Holden to his unconventional solution: they all need to have sex, partially for Holden to feel on par with Alyssa’s wild past, and partially for Banky’s sake:

                    HOLDEN
And it'll be okay, because it'll be with me -- your 
best friend for years. We've been everything to 
each other but intimates. And now, we'll have been 
through that together too. And it won't have to be 
a total leap for you, because a woman will be involved. 
And when it's over, all that aggression you feel 
toward Alyssa will be gone. Because you'll have 
shared in something beautiful with the woman I love. 
It'll be cathartic. A true communion. We have to do 
this. For me, for both of you... for all of our sakes. 
This will keep us together.

As wild as the proposal was, and as homophobic as Banky’s entire persona seems to be throughout the film, he agrees to partake in this ordeal with Holden and Alyssa. This is a key moment in Banky and Holden’s “love story”: whether or not he’s actually gay, Banky is willing to take a leap into something he fears. He’s willing to do something this intimate for his best friend, for someone he cares about. Through thick and thin, the known and the unknown, Banky’s sticking with Holden. After Alyssa turns down Holden’s proposition (and Banky breathes a sigh of relief), Alyssa storms out, but not before speaking a telling sentence to Banky:

“He’s yours again.”

---

I was against a Clerks sequel, but after finally seeing what Smith came up with, I was pleasantly surprised with how well I received it, and even more surprised with how long the film has stayed with me, even after only one viewing.

An interesting notion that, while not being the point of Clerks II, is definitely a theme that runs with the film, is the idea of leaving the other behind. The Clerks films have always been about the lazy generation, and the sequel digs deeper to reveal that it’s more about these 2 guys (and in the sequel, this one gal as well) getting stuck in a rutt, and never managing to get out. What the film proposes as it starts is this: what if one of them is able to get out? Alone?

In romantic relationships there’s always the problem of one person “moving ahead” while the other stays the same, and a lot of times we see this scenario end in a break-up. This is how it’s looking for Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson), and as we all know, it never feels good to be the one holding the other back. But what makes Randal commendable is that, however much letting go would pain him, the real reason he’s against Dante moving on is because he feels that what he is moving on to will not be healthy for him (Dante) in the long run.

What I love is that, even though Randal is way too insecure to tell Dante that he truly cares for him (even in a non-sexual sense), he goes beyond his insecurities and tells him anyway. And proof positive that Clerks II is more about Dante and Randal than it is about Dante and Becky (Rosario Dawson) is that the film’s payoff is not Dante choosing Becky, but rather it’s Dante’s reconciliation with Randal, Randal’s declaration of feelings for Dante, and how they finish: back at the Quick Stop—together—where they belong.

I’ve read that Smith decided to make Clerks II as a gift to Jason Mewes (who plays the Jay to Smith’s Silent Bob), rewarding him for beating addiction. It’s easy to see where the buddy relationships in Smith’s films come from, and Clerks II, in honoring Kevin Smith’s best bud, is somewhat of a love song—a Valentine, if you will—that doesn’t contain any romantic or sexual subtext. That doesn’t make it any less special of a Valentine.

I like that.