DVD Review – Madness In The Method

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Jason Mewes has had a fairly note career. People only know for playing Jay in Kevin Smith films… but he’s cobbled together a fairly in-depth career since Clerks. After Smith he easily has had the best career of anyone from that tiny film that found its way into the American lexicon.

One could argue Clerks was the right film at the right time; indie film was right on the rise; auteur filmmakers could find a niche again with a small budget and Hollywood moved away from that sort of filmmaking at about the same time.

Mewes being in films twenty something years later seems like an anomaly; out of all the actors to headline a film that found itself in wide release, Mewes in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back doesn’t feel like it actually happened (but it did). He’s now in the role of carrying small indie in Madness in the Method.

Method is a sort of meta comedy as Mewes stars as himself looking to reinvent himself. He’s sick of being known as a stoner drug dealer, et al, and starts out a trek to change his fortunes. With a number of members of the Kevin Smith universe, including Smith’s daughter, Mewes turns to a method acting teacher to try and resurrect his fortunes.

Mewes, who also directed the film (on a screenplay by two actors turned screenwriters), brings an interesting, soul bearing sort of performance to this. It’s what carries the film, which normally would be a predictable light comedy, into something much more interesting. This is Mewes looking at his life, putting out all of his sins, as he explores trying to be a serious actor while also knowing that it probably won’t happen because the world thinks of him as twenty something Jay in front of the Quick Stop.

It’s enjoyable if you know who Mewes is… the further away from knowing the Kevin Smith films will make it a little more difficult to really grasp it.

No extras are included.

Cinedigm presents Madness in the Method. Directed by Jason Mewes. Written by Chris Anastasi, Dominic Burns. Starring Jason Mewes, Vinnie Jones, Jaime Camil. Run Time: 99 minutes. Not Rated. Released on DVD: 9.24.2019