What do Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and Zack and Miri Make a Porno have in common? For one, both films are directed by Kevin Smith, but a shared character also connects them in the View Askewniverse. Released in 2019, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot features a sketchy lawyer played by Justin Long, who previously appeared as a male porn star in the 2008 film Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
The View Askewniverse officially commenced with the 1994 release of Clerks, an indie classic that introduced the pot-smoking Jay (Jason Mewes) and his mostly-mute pal Silent Bob (Smith). Over the past 25-plus years, the characters have appeared in several franchise films, including Chasing Amy and Dogma – both of which are referenced in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. In Smith’s latest film – now available on Amazon Prime – the titular protagonists lose a court case and try to prevent a new film from using their Bluntman and Chronic personas – which is directed by a fictionalized version of Kevin Smith. As for the man responsible for the legal mess, he previously appeared in Zack and Miri Make a Porno, a film about high school friends/roommates (Seth Rogen as Zack Brown, Elizabeth Banks as Miri Linky) who make an adult film in order to pay the bills.
Shortly after the opening sequence of Jay and Silent Bob Reboot – in which Smith recreates a memorable moment from The Silence of the Lambs – the titular characters appear in court. They meet their lawyer Brandon St. Randy (Justin Long), who explains that he’ll need his clients to sign court documents. Without looking over the paperwork, both Jay and Silent Bob follow instructions, but it turns out that St. Randy had secretly plotted to manipulate them. After getting legal charges dropped, stemming from the film’s open, the lawyer uses the aforementioned signed paperwork to represent Saban Films in an intellectual property case against Jay and Silent Bob. Given the gruff voice of St. Randy – which is similar in tone to Big Mouth’s Maury the Hormone Monster – some viewers may remember that he’s the same Brandon from Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
In Zack and Miri Make a Porno, the title characters attend a 10-year high school reunion party. After watching Miri drool over her former crush (Brandon Routh as Bobby Long), Zack casually strikes up a conversation with a well-groomed gent who identified himself as Brandon – Bobby’s boyfriend – and speaks openly about his career in the male porno industry.
While Zack and Miri Make a Porno was directed by Kevin Smith and included characters played by actors like Jason Mews and Jeff Anderson, it previously didn’t have any apparent ties to the rest of Smith’s View Askewniverse, so Justin Long’s appearance as Brandon in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot adds some retroactive connectivity that’s sure to be a nice treat to fans of Smith’s movies.
