Jason Mewes is frustrated that he can’t break out of playing roles like his iconic character Jay, one half of Jay and Silent Bob with Kevin Smith. Following a failed audition with casting director Anthony Costalino (Matt Willis), Jason turns to his actor Fernando Villarreal (Jaime Camil) who is selling a precious book on method acting. Fernando warns Jason to read the book slowly to avoid any negative side effects but of course he doesn’t listen and chaos ensues.
Madness in the Method is the directorial debut of Jason Mewes and with it he aims to poke fun at his life, and the way he’s perceived. Featuring a star-studded cast that includes Vinnie Jones, Teri Hatcher, Dean Cain and Stan Lee (in his last ever film appearance), the film is aimed squarely at Mewes’ fans. If you haven’t followed his life and career, you’re unlikely to get a lot out of this. Mewes direct with a zany pace but the material here is very hit-and-miss.
A handful of accidental murders provide the biggest laughs but sometimes the jokes are so self-referential that it makes the material pretty much inaccessible to the casual viewer. I’m fairly certain a lot of stuff went over my head but I’m also sure that a fair amount of the film just wasn’t funny. Bonkers yes but side splitting hilarious? Not really. The endless celebrity cameos become a bit tiresome too and as funny as it is seeing Teri Hatcher swearing like a trooper, it’s a one-note joke that quickly feels over-used.
With a film like this where the plot is paper thin, you really need to deliver on laughs and unfortunately Method in the Madness falls short. I can see what the film-makers were trying to do but it just doesn’t really work. A running joke around a feud Jay has with frequent co-star Brian O’Halloran works well and Danny Trejo gives a very memorable cameo but other than that, I just didn’t really get into the flow of the film at all.
Mewes plays… well himself and it turns out that’s not too different to Jay, which kind of makes the entire film a little nonsensical. Direction wise he has a creative eye and leans towards the kooky but the film feels like a series of skits rather than one cohesive narrative.
I really wanted to like Method in the Madness but unfortunately it never passed mildly amusing for me. Mewes is a talented actor and he shows some signs of being a good director but Madness in the Method is a little too self-indulgent and it left me feeling completely cold. I laughed a handful of times but all too often I reached for my watch to see how long the film had left.
Cast: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Vinnie Jones, Danny Trejo, Teri Hatcher, Dean Cain Director: Jason Mewes Writers: Dominic Burns, Chris Anastasi Certificate: TBC Duration: 99 mins Released by: Red Rock Entertainment
