Chasing Amy

Chasing Amy is a movie about love: what we think of it and how it stands up to real life. Often, we all have a set belief of what love is. Or rather, what it should be. Thus, we have an idea as to how the one we love should be. So what happens when that person turns your world upside down? Specifically, what if the person you fell in love with turns out to be gay?

The movie is one of the most profound and poignant romantic comedies I have ever watched. It examines love, virginity, homosexuality and friendship...without the stereotypes. Okay, maybe it does have stereotypes but the movie pokes fun at it like a kid poking roadkill with a stick.

You'd think that the most memorable scenes in a romantic comedy would be the funniest ones or the part where they confess their love. But in this movie, they turned out to be the ephiphanies - the scenes were the dialogue puts everything into perspective.

Here are some of the most memorable quotes:

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Banky Edwards: Alright, now see this? This is a four-way road, OK? And dead in the center is a crisp, new, hundred dollar bill. Now, at the end of each of these streets are four people, OK? Are you following?

Holden: Yeah.

Banky Edwards: Good. Over here, we have a male-affectionate, easy to get along with, non-political agenda lesbian. Down here, we have a man-hating, angry as fuck, agenda of rage, bitter dyke. Over here, we got Santa Claus, and up here the Easter Bunny. Which one is going to get to the hundred dollar bill first?

Holden: What is this supposed to prove?

Banky Edwards: No, I'm serious. This is a serious exercise. It's like an SAT question. Which one is going to get to the hundred dollar bill first? The male-friendly lesbian, the man-hating dyke, Santa Claus, or the Easter bunny?

Holden: The man-hating dyke.

Banky Edwards: Good. Why?

Holden: I don't know.

Banky Edwards: Because the other three are figments of your fucking imagination!

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Alyssa: You know, I didn't just heed what I was taught, men and women should be together, it's the natural way, that kind of thing. I'm not with you because of what family, society, life tried to instill in me from day one. The way the world is, how seldom it is that you meet that one person who just *gets* you - it's so rare. My parents didn't really have it. There were no examples set for me in the world of male-female relationships. And to cut oneself off from finding that person, to immediately halve your options by eliminating the possibility of finding that one person within your own gender, that just seemed stupid to me. So I didn't. But then you came along. You, the one least likely. I mean, you were a guy.

Holden: Still am.

Alyssa: And while I was falling for you I put a ceiling on that, because you *were* a guy. Until I remembered why I opened the door to women in the first place: to not limit the likelihood of finding that one person who'd complement me so completely. So here we are. I was thorough when I looked for you. And I feel justified lying in your arms, 'cause I got here on my own terms, and I have no question there was some place I didn't look. And for me that makes all the difference.

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Silent Bob: [to Holden] So there's me an' Amy, and we're all inseparable, right? Just big time in love. And then about four months in, I ask about the ex-boyfriend. Dumb move, I know, but you know how it is - you don't really want to know, but you just have to... stupid guy bullshit. Anyway she starts telling me all about him - how they dated for years, lived together, her mother likes me better, blah, blah, blah - and I'm okay. But then she tells me that a couple times, he brought other people to bed with them - ménage a tois, I believe it's called. Now this just blows my mind. I mean, I'm not used to that sort of thing, right? I was raised Catholic.

Jay: Saint Shithead.

[Silent Bob backhands him. Jay raises his fist as if to strike]

Silent Bob: Do something.

Silent Bob: [to Holden] So I get weirded out, and just start blasting her, right? This is the only way I can deal with it - by calling her a slut, and telling her that she was used - I mean, I'm out for blood I want to hurt her - because I don't know how to deal with what I'm feeling. And I'm like "What the fuck is wrong with you?" and she's telling me that it was that time, in that place, and she didn't do anything wrong, so she's not gonna apologize. So I tell her it's over, and I walk.

Jay: Fucking-A.

Silent Bob: No, idiot. It was a mistake. I wasn't disgusted with her, I was afraid. At that moment, I felt small - like I'd lacked experience, like I'd never be on her level or never be enough for her or something. And what I didn't get was that she didn't care. She wasn't looking for that guy anymore. She was looking for me, for the Bob. But by the time I realized this, it was too late, you know. She'd moved on, and all I had to show for it was some foolish pride, which then gave way to regret. She was the girl, I know that now. But I pushed her away...

[Silent Bob lights a cigarette]

Silent Bob: So I've spent every day since then chasing Amy...

[takes a drag from his smoke]

Silent Bob: So to speak.

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I could give you a summary of the flick, but it would be pointless. I don't have what it takes to commit into this article the essence of the movie. So my suggestion is to watch it.

Now.

You heard me. Get off that chair and rent the movie. Buy it, borrow it, steal it if you have to. But watch this movie like your life (or maybe your love) depended on it.

Because it just might.