‘Strike Back’ was very funny - jeez 2 hours of dick/fart jokes has a place doesn’t it?
Dogma was good too, but for different reasons.
I just dont think Kevin Smith is the artist some people paint him as and therefore he doesnt deserve the bile that gets thrown at him.
I’ve only seen one Kevin Smith film, Dogma, but it’s one of my favorite movies. The rest don’t seem like my sort of thing, but I think I’ll have to give Chasing Amy a look.
CJ
WHAAAA?? I’m completely underwhelmed by Afleck’s “acting” abilities. Aside from blubbering like a baby, he can’t do anything decently. Rewatch Chasing Amy and, more specifically, Dogma for proof of that. Jason Lee is always great, and many of the other actors he’s able to get, even for small parts, are very good. In fact, I felt pretty much everyone in Chasing Amy did a great job, with the exception of Ben (I’m sorry, his crying face makes me want to hit him in the face with a sledgehammer, and his mumbly voice just fucking annoys me).
I really like Smith’s writing. Having worked in customer service and video rental over the year, Clerks hits home and is really easy to relate to, and that really helps make it such a wonderful movie. Sure, the speach is rather unrealistic and delivered a ilttle rough, but for an independant film staring all his friends from around the block, I can see past that real easily.
Mallrats is just good plain stupid fun. I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite, but I do think it’s the most enjoyable. The Jay and Silent Bob moments are a lot of fun, and again, Jason Lee is great!
I really liked Chasing Amy the first time I saw it, because it’s a really realistic love story in my book (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy doesn’t get girl back). Really good script, really good plot, and enjoyable characters throughout. The directing is still really rough, though.
I really wanted to like Dogma, because I respect a lot of Smith’s religious views and felt it was really ballsy for him to make the movie prepared for all the shit he was going to get for it. I remember seeing it in theaters and finding it alright, but I caught the last half hour on Comedy Central the other day and realized what a piece of shit it really is. There are some good moments, and Linda Fiorrentino does a great job with her character, but every scene with Afleck and Damon felt like being tied to a chair while someone dragged a rake across a blackboard. The acting was soooooo BAD!!! Especially Damon’s reaction to seeing “the Muse”.
Never saw Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, but I’ve been meaning to rent it just to see it.
Overall, I agree with most people that he’s a good writer, just not very good at producing a final product that’s anywhere close to resembling a long lasting classic.
I’m putting my vote in for Dogma as best movie. It was the first one I saw, and that might have something to do with it.
She’s never seen one, but I’m pretty sure that if she did, my aging, fundamentalist mother wouldn’t like Kevin Smith’s movies.
Are. You. Joking?
The troubled heroine, The world-weary tequila-drinking archangel, and both of the fallen angels were all perfect. Absolutely perfect. And noone did a bad job in the movie, either.
Yeah, I like Dogma.
I really like Chasing Amy. Dogma was funny, but under no circumstances could it be called “brilliant”. Lawrence of Arabia and Citizen Kane are brilliant. In fact, on the “brilliant to pathetic” scale, Dogma ranks slightly above Armageddon.
Here’s a thread where dopers state their cases both for and against Kevin Smith’s shameful travesty known as Dogma.
Funny how so many completely opposing viewpoints there are! Dogma is my personal favorite. My only real complaint is that, unlike El Elvis Rojo, I thought ANYONE could have played the role of Bethany better than Linda Fiorentino. Talk about sleepwalking through a job.
Mallrats has some hilarious moments, as do Clerks and J&SBSB, and I really liked Chasing Amy, although I must agree with Rubystreak about Holden being totally justified in being angry at Alyssa for lying to him. The end of Chasing Amy was pretty poor, but I do kind of like the fact that “boy doesn’t win girl back in the stock happy ending.” J&SBSB was barely a movie at all, it was just a string of inside jokes and cameos thrown together, but it was fun.
Smith as a director is clunky at best. As a writer he’s hilarious, but still clunky. There are directors and writers who are way worse than he is, though.
I Liked Dogma.
Bethany should have been Janeane Garofolo. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
For me it’s a tie between Clerks and Dogma for his best film, then Mallrats and finally Chasing Amy. Jay and Silent Bob Eat Shit doesn’t even rank as it wasn’t entertaining to me.
So if Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith wanna hunt me down for talking smack about them on a message board, bring it on girly-boys. I’ll out-smacktalk, out-dance, and out-smoke both of you.
I like them all, Clerks and Dogma most of all.
And I have <a href=http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=221846>seen Jersey Girl</a>, and it was damn good, I thought. It’s not what you would expect from “a Kevin Smith movie.”
Mallrats has the best lines.
Chasing Amy is the best film.
Clerks is the most influential.
Dogma is the most ambitious (Smith’s mediocre direction skills weren’t up to his excellent writing).
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is utter crap. I think he phoned that one in all the way around.
One of the best incidentals of Kevin Smith movies is the “discovery” of Jason Lee. I think he is an incredibly talented guy, and I wouldn’t doubt if we see him scooping up an Oscar sometime in the near future. I think he’s got it in him.
I couldn’t stand Dogma. I own Clerks, Clerks the cartoon, and Mallrats on DVD, and Mallrats was one of my favorite movies of all time. But Dogma was just bad.
I hate every movie he’s ever made. They’re all stupid. Especially Chasing Amy was truly horrendous, especially the ending.
Chasing Amy was certainly the best. I enjoyed Dogma, too. But I loathe Clerks. I would rather pound my nuts flat with a wooden hammer than watch it again. I’d rather sleep naked next to Michael Jackson. I’d rather be wired to an electric chair, and only Jessica Simpson getting an answer right on Weakest Link could save my life. I’d rather watch a 48-hour marathon of The Nanny in Sensurround.
Mallrats had its moments but was mostly stupid (I liked Stan Lee showing up at the end, though).
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was stupid through and through. But I think he meant it that way.
Clerks and Dogma were both great. Chasing Amy was pretty good.
I like these single-sentence reviews. I should try them more often.
I opened this thread after somehow misconstruing the title as “Best Kevin Kline Flicks”. Kept reading the titles and going “huh?”
Chasing Amy was the best. Its what a chick-flick would be if it was for guys. I really think you’d have to be male to really appreciate everything in the film. ( No offense to women who also really liked the movie, but hey, we don’t get to experience childbirth)
Utter crap.