Writer-director Kevin Smith insists that "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" will mark the end of his so-called New Jersey Chronicles, a five-film series featuring a host of Jersey suburbanites and slackers launched with "Clerks" in 1994. If so, the series is ending not a moment too soon as the creative tank runs on empty throughout this film's duration. With two decent low-budget films to his credit with "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy" -- but two dogs in "Mallrats" and "Silent Bob" and one "push" in "Dogma" -- it appears that the time has arrived for Smith to, so to speak, get out of Jersey.

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