Chasing Amy

For the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode, see Chasing Amy (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).

Chasing Amy
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKevin Smith
Written byKevin Smith
Produced byScott Mosier
Starring
CinematographyDavid Klein
Edited byScott Mosier
Kevin Smith
Music byDavid Pirner
Production
companies
Distributed byMiramax Films
Release dates
  • January 24, 1997 (1997-01-24) (Sundance)
  • April 4, 1997 (1997-04-04)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$250,000[1]
Box office$12 million[2]

Chasing Amy is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series, the film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee).

The film was originally inspired by a brief scene from an early film by a friend of Smith's. In Guinevere Turner's Go Fish, one of the lesbian characters imagines her friends passing judgment on her for "selling out" by sleeping with a man. Smith was dating Adams at the time he was writing the script, which was also partly inspired by her.[3]

The film received mostly positive reviews, praising the humor, performances and Kevin Smith's direction. The film won two awards at the 1998 Independent Spirit Awards (Best Screenplay for Smith and Best Supporting Actor for Lee). Characters from the film would go on to appear in later Askewniverse films Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), direct spin-offs of Chasing Amy, with Affleck, Lee, Adams and Ewell reprising their roles in cameo appearances; Smith described the characters' roles in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot as being an "eight-page sequel" to Chasing Amy.

  1. ^ "Chasing Amy: Synopsis". View Askew Productions. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  2. ^ "Chasing Amy (1997)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  3. ^ Smith, Kevin (June 26, 2000). "The Hows and Whys of Chasing Amy". The Criterion Collection. Archived from the original on December 9, 2008.