Kevin Smith: The Good, The Bad, and the Disappointing
By Andy Bartsch, GGR Alum
It began in seventh grade art class. The teacher would give us an assignment and would leave us to finish it at our leisure. My best friend Erik kept repeating, “Fly, fatass! Fly!” over and over again. He would say to me, “Dude, it’s so funny! You gotta watch Mallrats! It’s so funny! It has those two guys from those MTV commercials in it!” This went on for weeks. Finally to shut him up, I rented it. No wonder he wanted me to watch this! The main character was snarky a comic book fan and the film had a comic book motif about it. The humor, while somewhat juvenile, was really funny (and that damn “Fly, fatass! Fly!” moment finally made sense (in context).
The soundtrack had an amazing 90s mix. Best of all, one of the supporting characters was none other than the comic book Godfather himself, Stan Lee. Keep in mind, this was long before the MCU, and the only people who knew who Stan was were comic book readers. I was absolutely in love with the movie. The next day, I asked Erik why he never told me Stan Lee was in the movie, knowing I was a huge comic book fan.
“I never watched the movie!” he said.
Erik went on to explain to me that the guy who played Silent Bob was the writer and director of the movie. “He also made this other movie called Clerks,” he told me.
I was hesitant to watch Clerks at first because like a lot of stupid kids, I thought black and white films were lame. Come to find out, despite having almost no comic book references whatsoever, I loved Clerks ever more than Mallrats! The humor was brilliant and the characters were lovable and well-acted. The soundtrack again was drenched in that classic 90s rock sound. The film also made several references to Mallrats, establishing this movie takes place in the same universe. To this day, Clerks is one of my absolute favorite movies. Clerks went on to spawn a sequel, a hilarious but unfortunately short lived animated series, and a handful of comic book one-shots.
Chasing Amy was next on my list and once again, comic books played a big part in the story, as the main characters themselves are comic book creators. I enjoyed Chasing Amy quite a bit. It was very funny as the humor was probably the best of Kevin Smith’s films, but I was too young to understand and appreciate the more mature themes of love and sexual identity. Nowadays I think Chasing Amy is probably Smith’s best work, however it’s an emotionally tough film to watch as an adult for me.
So now I was a Kevin Smith fan. I read in Wizard while he was working on his next film Dogma, he was also writing comic books. A miniseries starring Jay and Silent Bob was out and he was about to write six issues of Daredevil for Marvel. This excited me because Daredevil was one of my favorite characters. To this day, I maintain that Daredevil: Guardian Devil, is Smith’s best comic book work.
If there’s one thing you can say about Smith, he can be an extremely talented writer. Sometimes his humor can fall flat, but Chasing Amy proved he has the chops to tell a good story. Shortly after, he was hired to write a Superman film, which looking back, I had mixed feelings about. I was mainly excited because I’ve always been a huge Superman fan, and the film was going to shot in Pittsburgh, an hours drive from my hometown. The film ended up falling apart in pre-production and Superman wouldn’t return to the big screen for another ten years.
Smith would go on to make Dogma, an interesting religious comedy, which was unique and had a great story, but the humor fell flat for me. I still really enjoyed it, but I felt it wasn’t his best work. Despite what it said in the end credits, Smith didn’t make a Clerks 2: Hardly Clerkin’. Instead we got what was supposed to be the final Jay and Silent Bob film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. While the film was fun and had a lot of cool cameos, the humor felt lazy and the story was essentially a retread of the Jay and Bob comics. I remember thinking to myself, “If this was supposed to be the last Jay and Bob movie, shouldn’t he have put a little more effort into it?”
Smith’s next flick was Jersey Girl. As promised, Jay and Bob were nowhere to be found, which was fine. I actually really enjoyed Jersey Girl and despite it’s detractors (including Smith himself), I STILL maintain it’s a great movie! The highlight for me was seeing my favorite comedian George Carlin playing a serious supporting role.
In 2006, Smith DID end up making Clerks II after all. Despite it not needing to happen, despite the fact it shouldn’t have worked, Clerks II was absolutely fantastic. It was hilarious, emotional, and it was clear Smith had a good story to tell. There was real effort put into the film and despite claiming he’s not an actor, Jeff Anderson did a great job revealing the more personal side of the very standoffish Randal Graves.
''What! Is he even supposed to be here today?''
Smith’s next film was another departure from the View Askewniverse, called Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Once again, the film was very enjoyable thanks to the hilarious jokes and the amazing cast. It’s funny looking back how controversial the film was, with many ads removing “Make a Porno” from the title, and lots of backlash over some suggestive movie posters. I was eager for Smith’s next film.
Announced as “A Couple of Dicks”, Smith’s next film Cop Out would be a buddy cop movie in the vein of Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour starring Tracy Morgan and BRUCE FRIGGIN’ WILLIS! I was supposed to see this movie with my friend Travis when he came to town but I couldn’t wait. I saw the film and wow, it was disappointing. It was without a doubt, Smith’s worst film. I didn’t have the heart to tell Travis how bad the film was so I saw it a second time. That’s how good a friend I am. I’ll watch Cop Out TWICE for you! One reviewer compared watching Cop Out as bad an experience as the day his father died. Of course later, it was revealed that the film was plagued with all kinds of behind-the-scenes drama, mainly thanks to star Bruce Willis thinking his shit doesn’t stink.
[Seriously, Bruce, what happened to you? You used to be the king of cool! You were the relatable action hero! The guy you wanted to hang out with! Was it thanks to M. Night Shyamalan telling you you didn’t have to show emotion in his films, so stopped putting effort into acting altogether? Was it because you went bald? Did you lose your sense of humor and humility when you started losing you hair?]
The one thing I’ll give Smith about Cop Out is he did try new things. He’s the first to criticize the lack of dynamic cinematography in his films, but he pulled the action scenes rather well. But Smith really tried some new things in his next him when he announced his next time would be a horror movie.
Red State, a film about a group of religious extremists, was a gun-fight heavy, bloody, gory flick. If you told me the same guy who made Clerks made Red State, I wouldn’t believe you for a second. The film is tonally and thematically drastically different from the rest of Smith’s films. It has a raw edginess and energy that you get from a grindhouse film. Smith tried something different and it really paid off. If only Smith had the money to pull off his original ending (which I honestly don’t think would’ve fit the rest of the movie, but man, it would’ve been great to see). I was eager to see what ol’ Kev had in store next. Unfortunately, this would be the last time Smith would impress me as a filmmaker.
At this point, Smith had become a professional podcaster, hosting several shows such as Smodcast, Fatman on Batman, and Hollywood Babble-On. On one of them, Smith joked about making a movie about a guy who gets shoved into a walrus suit. He left it up to his Twitter followers as to whether or not he would make such a film. The result was Tusk, and true to his word, it’s a movie about a podcaster who gets surgically sewn into a walrus suit made of human flesh.
To this day, I don’t know how I feel about Tusk. I watched it twice when it came out on video and if someone asked me if what I thought of it, all I could say was the film is certainly memorable.
“Andy doesn’t even know if he likes Tusk.”
Along with Tusk, Smith’s next film Yoga Hosiers is another movie I can’t comment on because, well, I never finished it. I got through ten minutes of it and I shut it off with no intention of finishing it. The film did not appeal to me in the slightest. This was the first Kevin Smith film I refused to watch. Apparently I wasn’t alone. At a screening of the film a fan told Smith he had been a fan of his for years but this was the first time he was really felt disappointed. Smith apologized and offered to pay him his money back. To that I say, NO! What are you doing, Kev? That’s not how it works! If the film doesn’t connect with someone, all you can do is try again and hope the next one will. To be fair, Smith said he was aiming at a particular audience: the teenage girl crowd. Personally I don’t understand, as that’s not’s Smith’s demographic. I do give Smith credit though, as he’s in a place where he can make whatever kind of film he wants, and no one can tell him otherwise.
Smith went back to his roots and brought Jay and Silent Bob back to the big screen in The Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (which I was surprised to find wasn’t just a working title). The film brings back drug dealers Jay and Bob (still no last names) and finding out Hollywood is making a reboot based on the comic book based on them, Bluntman and Chronic, while Jay comes to terms with the fact that he has long lost daughter. Sadly, Smith’s lazy humor returns, as I don’t recall laughing once while watching this film. In fact I was kind of annoyed, as most of the film is a rehash of Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back (which itself was a rehash of the Jay and Silent Bob comic book). While some claim that was the point, I can’t get past what feels like a major lack of effort. And I know making a film isn’t easy by any means, but I know Smith is talented enough to do better. As I said, hopefully the next one will connect with me.
In 2001, Smith said one of his goals was to be on The Simpsons. On March 22, 2020, his wish was granted, as he made a cameo as himself in an episode that centers around marijuana (how surprising). As a Kevin Smith fan and a guy who grew up watching The Simpsons, I was excited to see Smith’s entire single line of dialog and two whole seconds of screen time. At the very end of the episode. A painfully unfunny episode.
Kevin, I don’t know if you’ll read this, but in the off-chance you do, I’m glad you’re at pop culture icon status and things right now really seem to be going your way. You’re healthier, you seem happy, and I’m happy for you, but you’re so much better than this, man! You can do so much better and you’re so gifted and talented! I implore you, please put more effort into your work. Please don’t become Bruce Willis.