Man, if only there were more people than Kevin Smith and Jerry Bruckheimer making movies.
I like 'em…must be a Jersey thing. I grew up with Jays and Silent Bobs…hell, I was Jay.
Dude, I’d be careful. Didn’t you see what they did at the end of the movie to the people who trashed them on the internet?
What Dead0man, Gravity, and av8rmike said.
Kevin Smith’s dialogue tickles my funny bone just fine, thanks. The “What’s a Nubian?” scene from Chasing Amy is worth the price of admission all by itself.
When Clerks first came out, I thought it was absolutely brilliant. The characters of Randall and Dante reminded me of people I knew, i.e. very intelligent, culturally aware people working in jobs that are clearly beneath their intelligence but at the same time lacking the ambition to try anything better. The dick and fart jokes, well, that’s part of how twenty-something men talked. It was raw, raunchy, funny and, to a great extent, rang true.
Mallrats was a disappointment. Enough said.
Chasing Amy, ah, what to say about this film. At times brilliant, and at times maddening. I think I was on board with the movie until the final scene at Holden and Banky’s apartment. The way Holden acted in that scene and the “solution” that he came up with was, IMHO, a jarring example of serious idiocy that contradicted the intelligence of the character seen to that point. I’ve never been able to reconstruct the thought process that led to it. I understand what it’s supposed to be, in the sense that I understand that people argue that cutting taxes increases revenues, but it still never made any sense to me.
Skipped Dogma.
Jay and Silent Bob was basically Kevin Smith making a film about how brilliant his films are. It was one of the more excruciating film experiences of my life.
When Kevin Smith is on, he’s a sharp and funny writer. I will admit that as a director, he’s no great shakes, but as a writer, he has a gift for accurately capturing the way a certain group of people talk, people who I can identify from my life experiences. When he’s off, he’s a hack who makes truly painful movies. I don’t understand the cult of Kevin Smith, or his own apparent worship of his own work.
The screenplays for Clerks and Chasing Amy were combined into a book, and they make for a good read. And Kevin Smith’s introduction to the book is fascinating. It’s true that his directorial style is pretty basic, but I don’t get the impression that he’s embraced that and cultivated it.
There are a lot of things he doesn’t do as well as other filmmakers, but I put up with those because the things he does well are things almost no one else even tries. His geek cred is part of it, the whole bit about innocent contractors being killed on the second Death Star is absurd and weirdly insightful at the same time. And there’s humor above and beyond the dick and fart jokes.
But there’s something else. Most romantic movies make the lead characters as generically appealing as possible; Pretty Woman for example. Rich, handsome knight rescues damsel in distress, who doesn’t want that? I think the idea is that we’re supposed to fall in love with the characters while they fall for each other. But Clerks and Chasing Amy did something more than that. The couples in those movies belonged together because of the things that set them apart from everybody else. (The best movie for this is L.A. Story.)
The big problem with Chasing Amy is that the climax is too early. When Holden pulls over in the rain and tells Alyssa how he feels, that’s the high point of the movie. And if you can’t identify with that moment, you’re either very lucky or very unlucky.
re: “I wish Smith would lighten up on the dialog.”
I never saw it, so I’ve got no idea what you’re getting at here… If it’s a slam, sorry it whooshed me.
Clerks was a great film - it was 100% driven by superbly entertaining dialog and excellent ‘comic’ characterisation, rather than just being an ‘ass gag’ film.
Since then KS’s films have been going downhill tho - Mallralls was a substandard Clerks - Chasing Amy was ‘ok’ but woolly - Dogma was overblown (the prequel comic is better 
and so on and so on.
J&SBSB was just terrible tho - a collection of lame gags and in-jokes which felt like the ‘Airplane’ of KS’s career.
If he screws up Clerks 2 I think that will be game-over…
TTFN
JP
p.s. The Clerks animated series was just weird - it had moments but it was just ‘weird’…
farts, dick jokes, bathroom humor in general wasn’t that funny when i heard it for free in the third grade…
having to pay to watch that crap in a theater is a thought so ridiculous it makes my head hurt.
Kevin Smith has shown no ability whatsoever to direct talent, to tell stories visually or to write a script that could stand up even to the standards of a Bud Light commercial.
Keep the green light far, far away from any of this cretin’s “projects.”
I’m not a fanboy or even a fangirl, but I enjoyed all of the KS movies. Especially Chasing Amy.
Hate to break this to you, but J&SBSB was Clerks 2. It got renamed. And he’s said he’s not ever making another movie with Jay and Silent Bob in it. (Course, who knows. Back in the early 80s, Lucas was quoted as saying there were going to be nine Star Wars films total. Directors can and do change their minds)
You say that like it’s a BAD thing…
Funnily enough, as I’m reading this, I just found “Dogma” on comedy central. I have to admit, the overdubbing of the profanity is pretty funny. And what they did to Chris Rock’s ass crack is hysterical!
I love Kevin Smith’s movies. Maybe it’s because I’m from Jersey too, or maybe it’s because I live in Red Bank, or maybe I just appreciate dick and fart jokes. Anyone who can manage to weave dick and fart jokes into a movie about unattainable love or faith is OK in my book.
Count me among those who love all five movies. I’m looking forward to Jersey Girl too. As much as I love the old characters, I’m interested to see how he manages without them.
By the wayHarli , should we read anything into your name, since Kevin’s daughter is named Harley too?
bibliophile, heheh, Kevin took the name for his daughter from the same place I took my username…the crazy zany Batman villainess/sidekick, Harley Quinn. I gotta be unique though and spell it a little differently…Harli Qwynn 
Have you ever seen a Kevin Smith film?
The man is an incredible writer of dialog–although, not everyone in his films is a good dialogue actor (coughJeremy London*cough) which can make for some rather stilted scenes.
However, when it comes to someone who can deliver witty, well-paced dialogue, like Jason Lee, Kevin Smith films are a perfect vessel.
Clerks was great. Mallrats had some problems due to the horrendous acting and delivery of Jeremy London but was, all in all, a good film. Chasing Amy had it’s good and bad parts–well-delivered dialogue (“Archie is NOT fucking Mr. Weatherbee!”). Dogma was good but again, we have an actor (Linda Fiorentino) who has a little trouble delivering the Kevin Smith lines as well as she could, but for the most part, it was good. Now, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is mostly good but irritates me in places. Sure, it has hot chicks (in tight leather/vinyl clothing no less) and witty dialogue but the plot was annoying and although a talented comedian, Will Ferrell was just grating at times.
I am hesitant to see Jersey Girl. I am afraid it will suck. I hate Jennifer Lopez and I’m not sure even Kevin Smith can make me get past that.
Those who fear Jersey Girl due to J. Lo’s presence may not have seen Out of Sight, which she made before embarking on her unfortunate music career. She was fantastic. Of course, since her diva turn, it’s been one shitfest after another, with the possible exception of The Cell. Still, I’m going to give KS the benefit of the doubt (since he did, once again, take me to a movie).
Those times include “day” and “night”.
Kevin Smith is exactly what my friends and I woulda been like, making movies, had someone been dumb enough to finance us. Well, ok, that or Jackass.
That said, I’ve thouroughly enjoyed all of his movies with two exceptions:
Chasing Amy I had to turn off halfway through. I don’t know why, but I didn’t find it amusing at ALL.
It was still more enjoyable than the movie I’m surprised nobody else has mentioned: VULGAR.
Yes, that’s right, there’s another Kevin Smith movie.
VULGAR.
It’s about a clown (played by the guy who played Dante) who decides it will be a good money-making idea to dress up in clown face and a garter belt for parties. Needless to say, some very bad things happen. It more than lives up to its title.
And yes, it’s a kevin smith film. He’s in it, as a ‘preppie’… Jay’s in it, kicking at a mattress or something…
I rented it at Blockbuster, both DVD and VHS. You may have to ask, depending on where you live. q;}
I don’t think Vulgar was written by Smith. It was a View Askew, and has a lot of the same actors, but I think one of the other guys wrote it.
The reason I love Kevin Smith is that because after watching every one of his movies, some straight guy gets all curious and has sex with me.
I am not Kevin Smith’s target audience. I’m a geek, yes, but I’m not a comic-book geek (The Spouse is, and I do read Bone, but that does not a true comic book geek make). I’m also female, and all of his movies seem to be written for a male viewer - the “gaze” of his camera is clearly meant to be a male disembodied viewpoint, as it were. Fart jokes do not make me laugh.
I couldn’t finish Clerks, and because of that was never tempted to watch Mallrats. Chasing Amy got such scathing reviews in the local GLBT weeklies that I didn’t see it out of a vague sense of protest, although having seen later reviews by those two reviewers, it’s entirely possible that they simply didn’t “get” the movie - I don’t know, as I still haven’t seen it.
Then I had a problem: Alan Rickman (swoon) was in a Kevin Smith movie. I didn’t see it in theaters because a FOAF whose taste is terrible insisted I should go, and I chose not to mostly to spite him. But a friend with much better taste (who also liked the movie) knew I was a Rickman fancier and bought me the DVD for my birthday. I loved Dogma. No, it’s not great film-making, but it’s a truly funny story. It even made me forgive Affleck and Damon their ineffable smarminess.
I don’t find “this is one long in-reference” movies funny, and so I haven’t seen J&SBSB, but I did like the Clerks animated series, especially the “Bad Korean Anime” sequence . . .