Chasing Amy · reception & legacy

1997 · Kevin Smith

How Chasing Amy has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

In 1997 it was the critical redemption of Kevin Smith after Mallrats — an indie darling hailed as his 'mature' film, with a Golden Globe nod for Joey Lauren Adams. Now it's the most re-litigated title in his catalogue: dinged as a straight-guy fantasy about dating a lesbian, yet also genuinely reappraised by queer viewers, most visibly in the 2023 documentary Chasing Chasing Amy.

What's debated

The forever-debate: is it a dated, male-gaze 'conversion' story, or a weirdly ahead-of-its-time film about bisexuality, labels, and male insecurity that gets punished for being honest about its era?

Its footprint

The inker-vs-tracer argument ('I'm an inker!' 'You're a tracer') lives on as a running joke in comics circles, and Silent Bob actually talking — delivering the monologue that names the film — is one of the View Askewniverse's most referenced moments.

Where it stands

A 90s-indie and View Askewniverse cornerstone that's become the definitive 'problematic fave' discourse film — still widely watched precisely because people can't agree on it.

★ Did you know? After Mallrats flopped, Smith made this as penance for about $250,000 — and it landed an early Criterion Collection release (spine #75), sitting alongside Kurosawa and Fellini.

Named by the director

Influences Kevin Smith has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.

Go Fish (1994) — Smith has said knowing Go Fish's co-writer/star Guinevere Turner helped inspire Alyssa and the film's premise — Turner even cameos in it.