If I were to analyze Kevin Smith's earliest films, I would say that he tends to provide insight towards everyday life for the sake of comedy. While some of that does carry over here, it's clear that Smith is much more interested this time around in providing insight for the sake of drama. I mean, how else would one tackle the struggle between platonic and romantic relationships, not to mention whether an individual's sexual preference factors into this situation? So having been underwhelmed by his previous film, Mallrats, in which he fumbles up the dramatic material entirely, I was worried that Chasing Amy would fall under the same traps that one did. Surprisingly, not only does this film execute its weighty subject matter quite well, it's such a heartfelt, sincere dramedy on its own terms that it's amazing that this creative team could bounce back right after a dip into mediocrity.

Smith has proved to give out insightful, relatable scripts before, but this is some of the best work he's ever done. I've always liked how he can make unlikable characters sympathetic, but with the characters of Holden and Banky, Smith pushes even further to create fully well-rounded people. Neither one is particularly perfect, but their standards on how relationships work, among other things, make them thoroughly fascinating. Holden's attempt to strike a relationship with Alyssa, along with Banky's eventual disapproval of that, allow them to stand out as characters that want things to go their way but have to accept that that may not be a possibility.

On top of providing great characters, Smith also has the chance to comment on serious topics, ranging from whether a person's past is an important part of someone to pre-conceived notions about what sex is. All of this is discussed at length, with several scenes centered on a certain topic going on for quite a while, and every moment spent on these issues is a delight. Smith injects his trademark humor into these scenes, and it surprisingly fits with the more dramatic stuff - even Banky's immature insults and homophobic slurs come off as a character trait and not a character quirk, as it easily could have been.

That said, none of this would succeed if it wasn't for the fantastic cast involved, and thankfully, this has quite a stellar one. Even for someone who liked Jason Lee in Mallrats, I did not expect him to have as much range as he does here. Since his character is the one who gets the most comedic scenes, it's a testament to how good Lee is that he can balance between the light-hearted fare and the big emotional beats effortlessly. I'm slightly less surprised by the likes of Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams, but they are equally great nonetheless - in fact, they're compelling enough that I actually didn't mind Adams's grating voice this time around.

It's not all perfect though. There are several points where Smith's direction succumbs to melodrama, particularly during bits of shouting, and there are enough occurrences of this that on occasion, it feels like the formulaic drama it desperately doesn't want to be. In addition there seems to be a contractual obligation to place this in the View Askewniverse, as this film's use of Jay and Silent Bob feels tonally - and totally, for that matter - out of place with everything else. I like these two as much as anyone else (particularly Silent Bob, who might as well be called Bob at this point), but the scene in which they appear would have been more effective had they not showed up at all. And in a film that explores sexuality to this degree, it's odd that the idea of bisexuality is simply ignored, especially when it's so close to being brought up in regards to these characters.

However those quibbles are not major enough to distract from the intelligent drama and surprisingly hilarious comedy that the film offers. I was rooting for Smith to successfully do a more conventional type of movie, and after not getting that with Mallrats, I managed to get exactly that with Chasing Amy and I couldn't be any happier. I have suspicions that he will never top Clerks but this is still really solid regardless. Actually I liked this so much that I'd be willing to say that it's of the same quality as Clerks, albeit for vastly different reasons.