# Kevin Smith **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 6, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609 "2003-07-06T19:24:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TERRA\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TERRA\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TERRA_Rising)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/1 "2003-07-06T19:24:47Z")
Can someone explain to me the appeal of this fucking lunchbox? Before you go off on a fucking tangent, let me say that I have seen all of his movies, including “Mae Day,” and I don’t get him or his movies at all. They’re not poignant, funny, or relevant. There is no “redeeming social value” in any of them. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/2 "2003-07-06T20:07:51Z")
Why did you watch all his movies if you don’t like him? ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/3 "2003-07-06T20:09:33Z")
Tierra del Fuego: How nice that your subjective opinion is supposedly concrete fact. My subjective opinions run counter to yours and think that your subjective opinions are insipid and you dress them funny. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/4 "2003-07-06T20:13:36Z")
[Link](http://store.yahoo.com/jsbstash/clerkslunchbox.html) Looks like it’s roomy enough to hold a couple of sandwiches, some pudding, chips, and maybe a pickle. The picture is kind of small, but not really so bad as to make it a **fucking** lunchbox. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/5 "2003-07-06T20:15:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Giraffe \* > \*\*Why did you watch all his movies if you don’t like him? \*\* WAG: The OP probably watched them all trying to figure out the allure. ---
**Author:** ![TERRA\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TERRA\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TERRA_Rising)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/6 "2003-07-06T21:12:14Z")
My boss is a huge KS fan. I watched the movies to try to understand some of the appeal, and partly because I wanted in on some of his references. About the only redeeming movie of his was “Dogma.” And even that one wasn’t all that great. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/7 "2003-07-06T21:16:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TERRA Rising \* > \*\*My boss is a huge KS fan. > > I watched the movies to try to understand some of the appeal, and partly because I wanted in on some of his references. > > About the only redeeming movie of his was “Dogma.” And even that one wasn’t all that great. \*\* Gee. What do you l9ke. oh arbiter of quality? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Eilsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Eilsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eilsel)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/8 "2003-07-06T21:16:35Z")
Kevin Smith, from right here in NJ. yay. I agree, the only film so far is “Dogma” I love that movie… LOL at the lunchbox, thanks for the link. I haven’t yet seen this cartoon…I usually like to stick to the classics and Dexter, Sponge Bob and Courage. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/9 "2003-07-06T21:29:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TERRA Rising \* > \*\*Can someone explain to me the appeal of this fucking lunchbox? > \*\* Sure thing. I’m a member of Generation X. When I attended pre-school, and elementary school, lunchboxes were made out of metal. They either wore out, or were ruined when I forgot them at school(Mom, bless her, tried and tried to get the smell out of my Universal Studios movie monster lunch box. But, it was impossible). At some point, presumably due to cost and liability, manufacturers switched to plastic lunchboxex. It just isn’t the same. The sound, the feel, the smell, the indescribable essence of a metal lunchbox cannot be duplicated in plastic. Now that the Gen Xers are living on their own and have their own disposable income, the things we loved in childhood are in big demand and are big business. He-Man has new action figures and a new cartoon. Companies make $300 statuettes of characters from GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, etc. And metal lunchboxes are back. Smith is already a character in films, comic books, and cartoons. He’s been made into an action figure. Now, he’s achieved the dream of so many of us. His own lunchbox. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/10 "2003-07-06T21:38:22Z")
You know, I once saw _Dogma_ on US network TV… and the editing made it a much better movie. Tighter, more focused, with less screen time given to the more _self-indulgent_ characters (you know who I’m talking about) and situations. There’s a really terrific, profound film hiding under all the shit jokes. It’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![Eilsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Eilsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eilsel)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/11 "2003-07-06T21:42:20Z")
Oh, well I agree about there being a good film underneat the crap … that’s why I love this movie. I would cringe at the thought of mykids seeing it and hearing all the profanity … and as a Christian, the first time I saw it, I was half sickened but then intrigued. So I had to watch it again lol. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/12 "2003-07-06T21:45:29Z")
Yes, because there is never any profanity and when there is, it shows how uncreative and stupid the people are. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/13 "2003-07-06T21:52:41Z")
I like them because they make me laugh. I think the dialogue is clever and fast- moving, so much so that I usually pick up another joke or two on repeated viewing. I also enjoy the commentary tracks on his DVDs, imho some of the most entertaining commentary tracks I’ve heard. Dogma was my favorite, because I liked the way it made fun of the church while simultaneously affirming just about everything important about Christian faith. But you don’t have to like them if you don’t want to. They’re just movies. ---
**Author:** ![TERRA\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TERRA\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TERRA_Rising)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/14 "2003-07-06T22:16:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mockingbird \* > \*\*Gee. What do you l9ke. oh arbiter of quality? > > :dubious: \*\* Blazing Saddles Citizen Kane Seven Samurai Cowboy Bebop (Popular Japanimation) Tsukikage Ran (Obscure Japanimation) My tastes vary, but I don’t like KS movies. What’s wrong with that? ---
**Author:** ![Journeyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/779978/32.png) [@Journeyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Journeyman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/15 "2003-07-06T22:31:10Z")
No accounting for taste, I guess. I thought Dogma was hilarious, but I’ll definitely say that Smith’s stuff is not for all tastes. As a side note, Cowboy Bebop is great. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/16 "2003-07-06T22:36:20Z")
Bah. Clerks was his best film, bar none. ---
**Author:** ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/17 "2003-07-06T23:11:02Z")
I think you might’ve not enjoyed it because his movies contain jokes that are funny to people who are geeks in general, who read comics and the various other things he references and thus they get the jokes he makes. Mallrats is made much funnier to me as a comic fan, and I imagine that people who don’t at least causually read comics won’t get most of it. Just a theory. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/18 "2003-07-06T23:28:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TERRA Rising \* > \*\*Blazing Saddles > Citizen Kane > Seven Samurai > Cowboy Bebop (Popular Japanimation) > Tsukikage Ran (Obscure Japanimation) > > My tastes vary, but I don’t like KS movies. What’s wrong with that? \*\* Because your OP doesn’t come off as your declaration of an opinion, but a proclamation that if someone disagrees with, they must have no taste. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harrison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Harrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Harrison)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/19 "2003-07-06T23:38:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TERRA Rising \* > \*\*My tastes vary, but I don’t like KS movies. What’s wrong with that? \*\* Nothing is wrong with simply not liking KS movies, however that’s not exactly what the OP implied. > [@](#): > > They’re not poignant, funny, or relevant. There is no “redeeming social value” in any of them. :wally So what does that say about people that enjoy KS movies? They must be idiots to laugh at movies that aren’t funny, relevant, or contain any redeeming social value. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609/20 "2003-07-06T23:42:24Z")
I liked the Jay and Silent Bob movie but I think he goes off the rails when he tries to be profound. There was nothing especially insightful about _Dogma_ and _Chasing Amy_ was insulting and gutless is its portrayal of the lesbian character (she’s REALLY bi, so Ben Affleck still gets to sleep with her. A truly honest movie would not have let that happen.) _Clerks_ was mildly amusing, if tasteless. _Mallrats_ just plain sucked. He’s got one coming out now with Affleck and J-lo that can’t possibly be any good considering that it stars Ben Affleck and J-Lo. I don’t quite get his appeal either. That Jay guy cracks me up sometimes but the rest of his characters just spout “Kevin Smith” dialogue which pretends to be deep but really has all the resonance of four guys sitting around a bong talking about Star Trek. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kevin-smith/186609.md?page=2)