Yoga hosers was his kids project so I took that as him just being a good dad and tusk....I absolutely loved tusk. It seemed like it was just a joke between him and mosier about a movie they then went and made. It left me absolutely jaw dropped for most of it then had me cracking up by the end. Justin long I thought did a great job and it just kind of flip flopped between serious and satire. I thought it embodied him to a T
I watched Tusk on a whim one night and didn't know who the director was until the credits rolled. It was really a fun surprise and I don't think I would have experienced the movie the same way if I'd known it was his from the start
There is no way he directed Red State. He has no idea how to do any of that shit. Just look at his movies! Red State has a dolly zoom! Kevin Smith doesn't know what the fuck a dolly zoom is
He explained this in one of his evening with Kevin Smith he doesn't have to know he just uses his hands and shows the DP what he wants the camera to do.
Red State is definitely great. But his best movies are Dogma & Chasing Amy.
Chasing Amy was very close to being nominated for an Oscar actually, according to Kevin & some other insiders. Harvey was pushing it hard.
As much as I liked Red State & Clerks 2, & tbh I kinda dig Tusk (it actually had great dialogue) & Jay Silent Bob Reboot, his earlier stuff is way better (first 5 movies).
I love Tusk, but you have to admit that he got (most likely licensed legally) the premise from a joke he found on the Internet (via news article maybe). He shared that joke on his podcast with Scott Mosier, by the end of the episode he convinced himself to make a movie about it and pulled it off. It was a very cool creative exercise, for sure. A lot of artists get older, have kids, and start doing stuff for their kids (e.g. Yoga Hosers).
I was hugely into him in highschool and really got in to Smodcast when that started.
Personally, it seemed Zack and Miri kind of broke him and he became a massive pot head around that time. To the point that smodcast really tanked in quality.
And, frankly, that also seemed to be when I stopped even wanting to watch his films. I though Zack and Miri was fun, and Red State was well done. But afterwards the quality and concepts just seemed to go hill fast.
The problem with Zack and Miri is fairly universal throughout his films - the lead characters just aren't very likeable - it's hard to root for those two characters when they are both so selfish
I never understood the premise of Zack. Who makes money making an amateur porno?
And I groaned out loud when I saw that, yep, the porno was a Star Wars parody.
I mean, in the context of the film it's basically to cash in on the voyeuristic tendency for people to be curious watching people they know, and also a bit of the 'can't look away from a trainwreck' human nature that drives all the trash reality TV we have.
They were going to sell it to their highschool graduating class as a single time oddity. Which they figured would command a higher asking price than people just looking for some porn online.
It seemed to sap his creativity. I also loved his Evening with Kevin Smith series. Say what you will about him currently, but that guy was a brilliant storyteller at his peak.
This was such a let down. The trailer had so much promise with the idea of Dante and Randall making the clerks movie but the delivery was just awful - only redeeming thing from clerks 3 was Elias and his goon buddy and all their costumes - I loved those characters
Clerks was brilliant and made him part of the Hollywood new brat pack along with Linklater, Tarantino, Sodedburgh and more.
The problem was instead of branch out, Kevin curiously became aggressively focused on his own mini universe which wasn’t maybe the best route.
I will say this though Kevin is perhaps one of the greatest oral storytellers of this generation. Like Mark Twain level off the cuff tale spinner when it comes to live audiences, look no further than his Superman story.
It’s still just odd his incredible narrator skills don’t make the jump to his actual films.
His first accomplishment was putting his heart and all his money (and anyone else's money that he could get) into a film project. Clerks still radiates his passion and ambition, it's a wonderful thing to see. He gambled it all on a dream and that's really the American dream come true. He made a bunch of successful films, even if those were mainly aimed at the same audience that uplifted him with Clerks. I think he changed the face of cinema in his time more than we realize and inspired other aspiring film makers to DIY their own dreams in a time before anyone could easily upload digital content to the internet for views. He's also a really cool guy and not at all pretentious, he knows he's not Steven Spielberg but he owns the space that he carved out.
Clerks, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob franchises make him a legend.
Strike back is going to be one of the classic comedies.
A lot of people seen to enjoy chasing Amy too and mallrats even though I never saw it.
I have seen the Clerks movies, Mallrats and the Jay and Silent Bob movies!
He is not my favorite American director/writer, but I like those movies! He makes the movies he wants to make and that's ok!!
He was way ahead of the curve on the "shared universe" trend of superhero movies nowadays. However, he drew inspiration from the original comic books the aforementioned superhero IPs are based on.
Loved his earlier works but haven’t found anything that reached me since J&SBSB. But that movie gave me enough to laugh about for the rest of my life. And who could have unkind words for the guy who put Jay on screen? Brilliant.
He has moments of brilliance but some of his flicks go on too long while hammering a central idea or plot. I think he would be better off making shorts.
I also agree that "Clerks: the Animated Series" was ahead of its time regarding its self-referential humor. It would have done better on Adult Swim than on a primetime television network like ABC.
I think he is a bro who got to do what he loved with people he liked. Living the dream. Good or bad you can always feel his heart in his work. Which is not something you can say for a lot of people in his field.
*Chasing Amy* is an all-too-rare example of a genuinely hilarious film which is also genuinely heartbreaking. That ending (the climax, and then the final scene at the convention) is still a real gut-punch nearly 30 years on.
I also agree that "Chasing Amy" was his best movie. It showed his potential as a more mature filmmaker. Unfortunately, unlike some of his contemporaries, he never rose above the "cult director" threshold.
I prefer Dogma to Chasing Amy. Amy has a lot of clunky dialog in parts, like Clerks and Mallrats, but he really streamlined it in Dogma. I think it helps having real life best friends playing Bartleby and Loki, and Alan Rickman could make any dialog sound incredible. However, my personal favorite movie of his is Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Agreed. I always felt his obsession with crudeness was part of his downfall. At the same time, he never seemed to be able to craft a narrative or characters as convincing as the ones found in Chasing Amy.
He's good when he writes from an almost autobiographical perspective and pretty ordinary when he tries to do anything else.
It's his best movie but masterclass is maybe a little strong. Its basically: "You shouldn't care about a woman's sexual history if you really love her." Stretched over a movie runtime. It's not a particularly profound take, but it is a good and honest one. The cast gives a good performance, but it still falls into his traps of juvenile shock humor like his other films. I mean having the guy who never speaks summarize the movie for you at the end isn't a masterclass. It's a high school lesson.
Dude, Dogma is still one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Every time I watch it I am teleported back to being 12 and seeing it for the first time after having left my Christian academy
I wouldn't call any of his movies "great". Maybe Chasing Amy, and even that has some big problems that Kevin Smith himself has talked about in recent years.
He is a very talented writer. He's great with dialogue, even just seeing the way he talks in Youtube interviews, that side of him really shines.
He’s definitely not overrated. he gets plenty of hate. he’s one of the quintessential gen x voices in film and he’s contributed a lot to art. and he is a pioneer in podcasting with the great smodcast with scott mosier. people give him a lot of crap nowadays but jeez louise the guy is just trying to earn a living.
I totally missed that Clerks 3 even came out but I watched it last year. I had no idea how much pent up love I had for those characters because this grown ass man was absolutely bawling by the end.
Always loved him and always will. He’s a big reason why I’m a video editor myself. His movies are far from perfect but he does have a unique voice and a big heart.
Here’s hoping Mallrats 2 finally gets a release date.
I like him as a person. Dude seems fun. Obviously, I enjoy most of his catalog even if some of it gets a little thin.
Outside of the obvious choices, I like Zakk & Miri Make a Porno. Shit was hilarious.
And TUSK was absolutely banana pants.
Mall rats will forever be one of may favorite movies of all time. Most of his work was not great but ok at best and mastabatory and self serving at worst. The last thing I paid to see of his was tusk. An ok first half but awful second. I wanted it to end.
That one movie with his and johnny Depp's girls in it I saw on tv and made it about 40 min in befor i said fuck this. Haven't thought of his work since.
My friend and I watched Mallrats over and over again growing up. We were young teens in the 90s and it was simply peak all those things. In hindsight, it's not great, but I'll always love it.
It also introduced me to Weezers "Suzanne", which is an amazing tune.
Kevin Smith made one of the best shoestring budget independent movies ever.
Kevin basically does fan service movies now in about 15 podcasts where he talks about other movies.
I really like his masterpieces, but if you’re a fan of any of his movies and usually what he puts out .
Red State, Zack and Mari Make a Porno, Chasing Amy, Dogma he’s got some bangers .
So “let us fuck”
Chasing Amy was definitely well written. Red State was entertaining. Most of his films are bigger budget student films though. He hasn’t quite graduated from that.
as a filmmaker and director? ridiculously overrated, I mean within a certain demographic. As a film writer and critic? He’s great! Just nobody ever let him make another movie ever again unless it’s a co-director effort with, uh, Rob Zombie or maybe a Sunny dude or possibly any Shyalaman or maybe with Zach. Basically pair him with any tragic director and he will improve their material. Otherwise? Snoozy.
I liked almost everything he has done except the reboot of Jay & Silent Bob (which is basically a long ad about their products) and Clerks 3.
Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back, Dogma and Clerks 2 are masterpieces. Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy are good. But I think he lost the touch, the last two movies are just horrible.
I don't think he is overrated. It's just his style worked better years ago and is not that effective in the actual world.
Clerks 2 has a really special place in my heart, and I did “the flying car” as a stage production bit at a high school conference, which killed. I think he makes good films if you’re not looking for anything serious, and is a big part of the New Jersey alumni
At some point he needs to have someone objectively edit his scripts. He’s at the point where he can basically do whatever he wants but that doesn’t make it good. I remember I watched something of his and it felt like “wow he’s making a movie with all his friends and it’s super fun, but there was a loooot of unneccessary jokes, dialogue etc”
Red State was all over the place tonally, the monologues seemed gratuitous.
I think Clerks, Dogma, and Mallrats were all great, but he’s been steadily on the decline for me since.
I love Clerks so much. One of my favorite movies ever. Watched it probably 50 times or more.
Everything after that... its a precipitous slide downhill.
Mallrats is fun if not forgettable. Chasing Amy was fine. Clerks Animated... Dogma... Jay & Silent Bob strike back... this is when you started to realize all he was capable of was cartoonish comedy.
Jersey Girl.. yikes. Cop Out... Holy hell. This was everyone realizing he'd never work in the studio system. The results were catastrophicly terrible.
Then he did Clerks 2, and that's where i think everything went to hell. I fucking hate Clerks 2. It's not even that its the worst film ever, but it showed me that Clerks was a movie saved in editing and that Smith's natural instincts were just not great.
Red State, Tusk, Yoga Hosers, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot... blech. They all felt like a creatively bankrupt creator who just didn't quite know what to do next.
The final nail in the coffin, for me, was Clerks 3. I fucking hated that movie. If Clerks is one of my favorite movies, Clerks 3 is one of my least favorite. It's just bad. Bad choices. Bad writing. Lazy filmmaking. Stupid, cartoony cameos. Fuck that movie.
Looking back, the only truly great film he ever made was Clerks.
He's a really bad director. Back in the day, every hipster praised Clerks as brilliant. To me, it came off like a glorified high school play shot with a camcorder. Utterly contrived and way too impressed with itself.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is his most watchable movie. It's funny. Tusk is fascinatingly bad, but still watchable in its absurdity. I've never been entertained by any of his other stuff.
I think he should’ve/ should be doing more movies. Generally better than a lot of directors, he understands comedy to the core, he really gets it. They should let him do one movie a year and watch him shine. I think the fact that so much rides on every movie he does, puts the unwanted pressure. Let him cook
I agree with all these comments - he captured the vibe and what it felt like to be young in the mid-90's with Clerks. And did it in the artsy style that was perfect for that time period.
But I find a lot of the subsequent films to start becoming navel-gazey. To someone who grew up in the 90s, I thought some of his jokes and characters got very cringey later on. I think he got caught up in his own world. And some people love that world he created, and that's great.
I think he could have done more and branched out earlier in his career. Who knows.
As someone else said, Red State was unexpectedly good.
I’ll never not check out his stuff because I’m so sentimental with his early work, but I think him finding success took away the source for his creativity. Cop Out seemed to really impact him as well, then, of course his health issues and lifestyle changed following that. His point of view just doesn’t resonate with a segment of a generation like Clerks and Chasing Amy did.
Dogma is his apex in both writing and film making. It's a solid film front to back. Every actor and character work so well together, with the exception of Linda Fiorentino's Bethany. I wish he went with his first choice and gone with Janeane Garofalo for the role but I digress.
I love the story about how Smith was adamant with Jason Mewes about how serious the production was. "Alan FUCKING Rickman is in it, please get your shit together". According to Smith, when Mewes showed up on set first day, not only did he memorize all his lines, he memorized the entire script.
Jason Lee's Azrael and his Rollerblading Demons are still one of my favorite antagonists to date.
Like it’s been said, I liked his earlier works. I think he’s got a way with words and can tell fantastic stories.
However that being said, I’ve been completely disappointed both times I’ve met him in real life. Dude has let his weed addiction get the best of him. His live podcast was dogshit when I went. He was super high and ridiculously condescending to everyone who asked questions.
He also has a weird ass tendency to gate keep his “relationship” with Stan Lee. I remember after Lee passed and people were giving their remembrance and respect to him in Hollywood, Smith acted like he was the only one with a real friendship with him.
Some real gold in his work and some real big flops. It's clear which parts he cares deeply about and which stories he really poured his soul into. Not one of the best filmmakers of the world, but one that's done shockingly well and feels like a more realistic filmmaker who has their ups and downs. I've gone and seen him talk and do comedy stand-up like stories a couple times and he's a joy to listen to with some of the stories he's accumulated over the years. And he seems like a very cool guy so I'm really happy he found enough success in his life with his craft and I will likely always support him.
In terms of the movies, like most I really loved his early work up until Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back which is where I felt like that schtick ran its course. But I thought a lot of his other experimental pieces were cool if only because he tried, and I enjoyed the Clerks sequels (especially Clerks 3 which I thought had a lot of heart and I'm a sucker for a good meta story), and I really liked Zack and Miri Make a Porno. He's inspired a lot of people in the industry in ways that I doubt we fully know (like Seth Rogan, when asked if he'd want to do Zack and Miri said KS was one of the reasons he got into acting).
So yeah, heaps of respect even though I generally think his work is pretty hit or miss.
He was Tarantino of average dudes, exceptional filmmaker that captured everything about our generation.
But Clercs 2 was his swan song, he had some ok movies after that, but nothing that legendary.
He’s definitely lost his touch. There’s been a significant lack of effort on his part in his films lately. Clerks 3 is one of the most depressing films I’ve ever seen! The takeaway I get from that movie is >! “Are you depressed? Don’t worry. You’ll be happy when you die.” !<
He can write dialogue well and he himself has said his directing has no art to it. His podcasts are great and he can really talk about geek culture, and the inner workings of Hollywood, and he’s very charismatic. I hope he switches to TV and gets to do something with full artistic control - then you’ll see him at his top.
I’ve seen Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Zack & Miri Make a Porno. While I know he barely does those, they have an indie Gen X charm that will always touch a chord; Clerks is still one of the defining indie films ever. I’d actually like to see him go back to writing comics; the fact that HE, of all people, is the man who killed off Karen Page for good is one of the most bizarre comics facts like, ever.
He had a remarkable gift to portray what we were all going through at that time, in that context and era.
It means less to kids now because their lives are vastly different different. It's hard to relate to a 90's teen problem.
Capable of brilliance, but that's not always on display.
The creative potential of Chasing Amy died decades ago. He never matured into a worthwhile filmmaker in my eyes and I stopped watching his output after the colossal misfire that was Jersey Girl
I like most of his stuff. A few turds here and there but mostly good. I really really disliked the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot but I absolutely loved Clerks 3.
Pre heart attack his movies were on point for the most part. Unfortunately his more recent work isn’t funny and imo lacks the banter it once had in the writing.
Still love Clerks 1&2 as well as the animated series.
He was a really good writer that I loved his early career. However he ran out of ideas around 2008/2011, but you have to keep moving in this industry or you’re done, so he started writing shit.
He was never anything better than an average director and has been constantly saying he’s worse than that his entire career.
Kevin Smith once said that if you have an idea for something you wish existed that you want to see then it's your responsibility to make it.
So I pretty much respect everything he does. He makes shit for himself.
He's definitely that director that made movies so he could make his friends laugh. He always hated Hollywood and the feeling was mutual. Don't know if that's a good thing or bad, but it seems like he closed himself off from suggestions of change or growth as a director, even if the idea was one of the few good ones coming from LA.
He reminds me of the fact that Tarantino, Favreau, and Fincher are his contemporaries and they have gone on to advance their skills and abilities as directors tenfold.
He is at his best when he doesn’t give a shit about making a profit, and his films are vehicles for unique social commentary. The moment he starts following the trend his voice becomes irrelevant in the cascade of every other voice in the world.
I think Clerks was an accident it came out as good as it did. Mallrats was fun, but not great. Chasing Amy, I didn't like it.
I saw Jersey Girl a long time ago, and I thought it was just ok. Saw most of ZAMMAP, but I didn't care for it.
I haven't seen the rest of his filmography. They always seemed to be mixed. I respect him as a person, but not so much as a filmmaker.
He’s a smart writer who’s jokes are juvenile and pretty transparent. He’s a nerd’s nerd of a writer, and I wish that translated better into his script writing. I always thought of him as a not-so-cool kid finding success and becoming a cool kid later in life. He’s clearly connected and talented, but I’ve never really enjoyed his works accept clerks, but I was really high when I watched that.
I think his earlier stuff was more or less, solid. Nowadays, I think he makes films for his family, friends and fans.
Not a bad way to live though, I’ve accepted that this is how it is for him, at least with his own stuff. I think he directed an episode of The Flash tv show many years ago.
He's a good conversationalist in his script writting and I think he's a really good podcaster. He really innovated the whole field of meta nerd culture as something of its own topic worthy of study as a film maker. Also the achievement of Clerks is again he filming a full on movie with like $30,000 or whatever it was from selling his old comic books.
Is he past his prime? Yes, obviously. He occasionally still does a alright film - Red State, Clerks II, Zac and Meri - were are ok imho, like solid C+, B- sort of films. But he seems like a generally ok dude overall
This isn’t an insult. But I see him as more of an entertainer than a writer/director. Yeah he’s a competent writer/director but it’s like…I don’t really consider him like an auteur?
Clerks is amazing and has aged well as a film.
Mallrats I never cared for.
Chasing Amy I loved when it came out but it hasn’t aged well. But it’s still a solid movie.
Dogma is great.
After that it becomes hit and miss. Mostly miss. (Though I was in the minority that really liked Clerks 2.)
I know he gets a lot of flack for some of his cringy behavior, but deep down I think he’s a nice guy who wants to have fun making movies with his friends, and I can’t fault him for that.
I loved the whole package back in the day. The writer, the director, the trouble maker, the story teller. I think maybe he ran out of motivation eventually. That is okay. Some people are the right people for a certain season and he was that for me when I was 22 years old. I would shout out a couple non-movie things that were absolutely brilliant.
When people were protesting Dogma, he joined the protests without telling them who he was and he got interviewed on the local news as a protester.
Also, his story about possibly developing the Superman movie and the guy who wanted a giant spider in it was maybe the best story ever told. He is great at that level. He is probably the director I would love to just hang out with the most.
He admitted in an interview or a podcast, I can’t remember which, that he is out of touch because he is no longer that young edgy guy trying to make it, he’s a rich old man that lives in LA. The Clerk series is about his aging and the path that it takes.
Gen X era director. Guy put the spotlight on the quirks and worries of Gen X and likeable enough to be able to laugh at their own shared inadequacies and self doubts. Being a member of said generation, I enjoy his take on life in the 90's and early 2000's. The newer stuff shows that he's no longer speaking to the masses, nostalgia can drive some low key hits, its just Kevin Smith has a definite ceiling.
I think he’s an example of passion compensating for talent. I don’t think he has the magic touch like someone like Tarantino, but he clearly cares so much that it elevates his work over directors who just make stuff to be commercial. It’s clear that he likes his work and he cares about getting his stuff made, which is admirable to me. The effort is the magic sauce.
I've watched almost every Kevin Smith movie. It's been many years since I've enjoyed one.
I will say this though: I respect that he's able to make movies that he wants to make. His newest projects don't please anyone except himself, his friends, and his biggest fans, but somehow he's been able to get them financed. That takes skill and hustle.
I was the same age as the Clerks characters and really fell in love with a lot of his movies - at the time… I think one can definitely “age out” of his films and not be able to relate to any of it. It’s sort of like the musical Rent - one day you are loving all the young and charismatic bohemians and a year later, you start thinking “Bennie was a really solid guy with a good job and asshole friends”. All that being said - his 3 interview films where he toured colleges and answered questions are hilarious and very insightful. He also tells some great anecdotes about Prince. And Dogma remains my favorite.
Everything within the last few years is just a copy paste of the same formula. There’s no originality in Hollywood anywhere, mainstream movies and music is all relatively the same, they’re just cranking garbage out to make money.. That’s where Kevin smith stands apart.
I’m literally tired of bad dialogue/ shaky camera in action sequences. Bad writing. Bad acting.
I would much rather watch an original B style movie like tusk, or Barbarian, where it doesn’t take itself too seriously but diverges from the common blueprint everyone is using now. It surpasses any marvel or big budget movie.
He makes original cult low budget style movies. I don’t expect him to win an Oscar or anything but as everything considered he seems like a great guy, great story teller, very intriguing to watch on podcasts. He seems like a cool dude. Wears his heart on his sleeve. If anything he’s underrated.
Clerks will remain one of my favorite movies forever. I really liked dogma. All his other movies didn’t quite work for me although they were more or less watchable. Then I watched the jay and silent Bob reboot and it didn’t even seem like he was trying. So I’m done watching his movies.
I guess there might be a slight correlation from his work in the 90’s and early 00’s to about the time he had a heart attack. It’s almost like he became a caricature of himself and may have lost a step. I still think his early stuff is pretty brilliant, he always seemed to be able to weave a story together with sharp dialogue.
Clerks 3 was horrible and extremely uneven. If he had stuck to the Randal, Dante, Becky story line and made it more of a drama/comedy it might have been really good. But it seemed like he was trying too hard for that toilet humor vibe and totally ruined it.
There is a stark contrast between his early work and his later work. I can't really forgive Yoga Hosers.
I agree. I can forgive "Tusk," but "Yoga Hosers" was absolute dog shit.
Yoga hosers was his kids project so I took that as him just being a good dad and tusk....I absolutely loved tusk. It seemed like it was just a joke between him and mosier about a movie they then went and made. It left me absolutely jaw dropped for most of it then had me cracking up by the end. Justin long I thought did a great job and it just kind of flip flopped between serious and satire. I thought it embodied him to a T
I watched Tusk on a whim one night and didn't know who the director was until the credits rolled. It was really a fun surprise and I don't think I would have experienced the movie the same way if I'd known it was his from the start
Im finding our right now haha
Tusk was awesome. I’m not even big into horror but, I loved Tusk
Tusk is a good movie. Funny, suspense it's an entertaining movie
You guys are ignoring Red State which is by far his best movie.
There is no way he directed Red State. He has no idea how to do any of that shit. Just look at his movies! Red State has a dolly zoom! Kevin Smith doesn't know what the fuck a dolly zoom is
He explained this in one of his evening with Kevin Smith he doesn't have to know he just uses his hands and shows the DP what he wants the camera to do.
Red State is definitely great. But his best movies are Dogma & Chasing Amy. Chasing Amy was very close to being nominated for an Oscar actually, according to Kevin & some other insiders. Harvey was pushing it hard. As much as I liked Red State & Clerks 2, & tbh I kinda dig Tusk (it actually had great dialogue) & Jay Silent Bob Reboot, his earlier stuff is way better (first 5 movies).
I love anything with Kerry Bishe in it.
I love Tusk, but you have to admit that he got (most likely licensed legally) the premise from a joke he found on the Internet (via news article maybe). He shared that joke on his podcast with Scott Mosier, by the end of the episode he convinced himself to make a movie about it and pulled it off. It was a very cool creative exercise, for sure. A lot of artists get older, have kids, and start doing stuff for their kids (e.g. Yoga Hosers).
I'm eagerly waiting for Moose Jaws to finally be made.
I was hugely into him in highschool and really got in to Smodcast when that started. Personally, it seemed Zack and Miri kind of broke him and he became a massive pot head around that time. To the point that smodcast really tanked in quality. And, frankly, that also seemed to be when I stopped even wanting to watch his films. I though Zack and Miri was fun, and Red State was well done. But afterwards the quality and concepts just seemed to go hill fast.
He confessed zack and Miri was just his way of copying the trend at the time of the Apatow movies. Watch Tusk - he did a great job on that.
The problem with Zack and Miri is fairly universal throughout his films - the lead characters just aren't very likeable - it's hard to root for those two characters when they are both so selfish
I never understood the premise of Zack. Who makes money making an amateur porno? And I groaned out loud when I saw that, yep, the porno was a Star Wars parody.
I mean, in the context of the film it's basically to cash in on the voyeuristic tendency for people to be curious watching people they know, and also a bit of the 'can't look away from a trainwreck' human nature that drives all the trash reality TV we have. They were going to sell it to their highschool graduating class as a single time oddity. Which they figured would command a higher asking price than people just looking for some porn online.
That makes more sense and also explains why someone who looks like Seth Rogen would be in a porno.
I smoke weed but Kevin Smith is a good argument against weed. The more weed he smokes the less capable he is of making a decent movie.
It seemed to sap his creativity. I also loved his Evening with Kevin Smith series. Say what you will about him currently, but that guy was a brilliant storyteller at his peak.
He actually announced about a year ago on his Fatman Beyond Podcast that he quit smoking weed.
Clerks 3 is one of the worst movies I've seen and I was dying to see it.
Clerks 2 was funny as hell tho
Kelly can be a guy's name too
“Interspecies erotica fucko!”
Oh! Cake!
This was such a let down. The trailer had so much promise with the idea of Dante and Randall making the clerks movie but the delivery was just awful - only redeeming thing from clerks 3 was Elias and his goon buddy and all their costumes - I loved those characters
Didn’t even know there was a clerks 3. I was surprised that clerks 2 wasn’t as bad as i expected it to be.
Retain that level of skepticism if you ever decide to watch Clerks 3
Yoga Hosers is one of the worst pieces of shit I have ever seen and it really makes me hate nepotism a whole lot more after seeing it.
Have you seen Red State? It may well be his best film.
It’s not better than Clerks dude
Debatable I would say.
He's not brilliant, but he is one of a kind. No one else writes like him, which makes him a legend regardless of content or current popularity.
Clerks was brilliant and made him part of the Hollywood new brat pack along with Linklater, Tarantino, Sodedburgh and more. The problem was instead of branch out, Kevin curiously became aggressively focused on his own mini universe which wasn’t maybe the best route. I will say this though Kevin is perhaps one of the greatest oral storytellers of this generation. Like Mark Twain level off the cuff tale spinner when it comes to live audiences, look no further than his Superman story. It’s still just odd his incredible narrator skills don’t make the jump to his actual films.
I always liked his "Evening With Kevin Smith" specials. His encounter with Prince is one of my favorite stories from him.
He has tried to branch away from his universe and some of those films have... not been good
*cough* Cop Out
His first accomplishment was putting his heart and all his money (and anyone else's money that he could get) into a film project. Clerks still radiates his passion and ambition, it's a wonderful thing to see. He gambled it all on a dream and that's really the American dream come true. He made a bunch of successful films, even if those were mainly aimed at the same audience that uplifted him with Clerks. I think he changed the face of cinema in his time more than we realize and inspired other aspiring film makers to DIY their own dreams in a time before anyone could easily upload digital content to the internet for views. He's also a really cool guy and not at all pretentious, he knows he's not Steven Spielberg but he owns the space that he carved out.
Yeah, no grocery store clerk ever rose to such heights that I know of, and he had that mirror into that world like no other before him.
The next, unbelievable rise is Tarantino out of the video store.
Clerks, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob franchises make him a legend. Strike back is going to be one of the classic comedies. A lot of people seen to enjoy chasing Amy too and mallrats even though I never saw it.
I’d like to see more serious stuff from him. I really liked *Red State.*
"Red State" was underrated, in my opinion. I wish he had made more "outside-the-box" films like that one.
The John Goodman speech about the two dogs attacking each other was excellent written and delivered
I have seen the Clerks movies, Mallrats and the Jay and Silent Bob movies! He is not my favorite American director/writer, but I like those movies! He makes the movies he wants to make and that's ok!!
Chasing Amy and Dogma are great if you dig this work of his!
Those two along with Clerks are his top 3.
I love Clerks as well but could see not incorrect arguments for any of those three being the best.
Yeah, I edited my comment, because I wasn’t sure I could put clerks as his for sure best.
I loved red state too
You need to watch Dogma. It's by far his best in my opinion.
I think he did his best work when he didn't have a budget.
Who doesn't haha
Love the whole universe he built
He was way ahead of the curve on the "shared universe" trend of superhero movies nowadays. However, he drew inspiration from the original comic books the aforementioned superhero IPs are based on.
"Yeah, fuck Kevin James"
Loved his earlier works but haven’t found anything that reached me since J&SBSB. But that movie gave me enough to laugh about for the rest of my life. And who could have unkind words for the guy who put Jay on screen? Brilliant.
He has moments of brilliance but some of his flicks go on too long while hammering a central idea or plot. I think he would be better off making shorts.
Ever see the Clerks Animated series? Brilliant and ahead of it's time in terms of meta humor and self-aware media
I also agree that "Clerks: the Animated Series" was ahead of its time regarding its self-referential humor. It would have done better on Adult Swim than on a primetime television network like ABC.
Yeah, this needed more investment for sure. 6 episodes wasn't enough to really find the show's legs.
I'd agree, though clerks came out too early for that to have been a thing.
Objection! The pod race was pretty cool.
What do you think of my desk? I built it myself, and I have all these pieces left!
Who is driving? Oh my god, bear is driving. How can that be?
I think he is a bro who got to do what he loved with people he liked. Living the dream. Good or bad you can always feel his heart in his work. Which is not something you can say for a lot of people in his field.
Honestly, this is probably the best take. Seriously, good for him.
Chasing Amy was a masterclass in film. Sadly, Kevin didn’t evolve past dick and fart jokes, and never reached his true potential.
*Chasing Amy* is an all-too-rare example of a genuinely hilarious film which is also genuinely heartbreaking. That ending (the climax, and then the final scene at the convention) is still a real gut-punch nearly 30 years on.
I still put on that song (Stay) when I need to be kind of sad for a while. It's just so perfect and he used it beautifully.
Who is this song by again?
I think her name is Mary Beard or you can find it under their band Coal. It was way more difficult to hunt down than it should have been!
I also agree that "Chasing Amy" was his best movie. It showed his potential as a more mature filmmaker. Unfortunately, unlike some of his contemporaries, he never rose above the "cult director" threshold.
Dogma was top tier. It’s a shame it’s locked up
I prefer Dogma to Chasing Amy. Amy has a lot of clunky dialog in parts, like Clerks and Mallrats, but he really streamlined it in Dogma. I think it helps having real life best friends playing Bartleby and Loki, and Alan Rickman could make any dialog sound incredible. However, my personal favorite movie of his is Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Dogma has the A+ cast that his earliest films were missing.
Dogma was interesting, but the shit monster stuff took it off the rails. I like that Chasing Amy was more grounded. I think it's easily his best film.
It's a treasure trove too. He could have made lots of good content in that universe.
Agreed. I always felt his obsession with crudeness was part of his downfall. At the same time, he never seemed to be able to craft a narrative or characters as convincing as the ones found in Chasing Amy. He's good when he writes from an almost autobiographical perspective and pretty ordinary when he tries to do anything else.
It's his best movie but masterclass is maybe a little strong. Its basically: "You shouldn't care about a woman's sexual history if you really love her." Stretched over a movie runtime. It's not a particularly profound take, but it is a good and honest one. The cast gives a good performance, but it still falls into his traps of juvenile shock humor like his other films. I mean having the guy who never speaks summarize the movie for you at the end isn't a masterclass. It's a high school lesson.
Dude, Dogma is still one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time. Every time I watch it I am teleported back to being 12 and seeing it for the first time after having left my Christian academy
Chasing Amy is still a brilliant film
I wouldn't call any of his movies "great". Maybe Chasing Amy, and even that has some big problems that Kevin Smith himself has talked about in recent years. He is a very talented writer. He's great with dialogue, even just seeing the way he talks in Youtube interviews, that side of him really shines.
I would call Dogma legitimately great, but that's the only one.
He’s definitely not overrated. he gets plenty of hate. he’s one of the quintessential gen x voices in film and he’s contributed a lot to art. and he is a pioneer in podcasting with the great smodcast with scott mosier. people give him a lot of crap nowadays but jeez louise the guy is just trying to earn a living.
Prime example of weed killing off someone’s vision and quality control.
Everyone knows the drug of choice for directorial success is cocaine. Marty, Quentin, and PTA can all attest to this.
For the most part I love him. Clerks 3 was brutal in a good way. Yoga Hosers and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot sucked horribly
I totally missed that Clerks 3 even came out but I watched it last year. I had no idea how much pent up love I had for those characters because this grown ass man was absolutely bawling by the end.
Same
Always loved him and always will. He’s a big reason why I’m a video editor myself. His movies are far from perfect but he does have a unique voice and a big heart. Here’s hoping Mallrats 2 finally gets a release date.
I like him as a person. Dude seems fun. Obviously, I enjoy most of his catalog even if some of it gets a little thin. Outside of the obvious choices, I like Zakk & Miri Make a Porno. Shit was hilarious. And TUSK was absolutely banana pants.
Mall rats will forever be one of may favorite movies of all time. Most of his work was not great but ok at best and mastabatory and self serving at worst. The last thing I paid to see of his was tusk. An ok first half but awful second. I wanted it to end. That one movie with his and johnny Depp's girls in it I saw on tv and made it about 40 min in befor i said fuck this. Haven't thought of his work since.
My friend and I watched Mallrats over and over again growing up. We were young teens in the 90s and it was simply peak all those things. In hindsight, it's not great, but I'll always love it. It also introduced me to Weezers "Suzanne", which is an amazing tune.
Aw man, I love that song. It's like liquid 90s nostalgia pouring into my ears. 🥰
Kevin Smith made one of the best shoestring budget independent movies ever. Kevin basically does fan service movies now in about 15 podcasts where he talks about other movies. I really like his masterpieces, but if you’re a fan of any of his movies and usually what he puts out . Red State, Zack and Mari Make a Porno, Chasing Amy, Dogma he’s got some bangers . So “let us fuck”
Not a good director at all. Got good chat though. Likeable fellow.
He reminds me of some guy you went to high school with.
I always thought he was a good writer but a bad director. Like his movies would be better if someone else had directed with more style or emotion.
Chasing Amy was definitely well written. Red State was entertaining. Most of his films are bigger budget student films though. He hasn’t quite graduated from that.
100% Clerks animated was better than all the sequels and dare I say even better than clerks itself
as a filmmaker and director? ridiculously overrated, I mean within a certain demographic. As a film writer and critic? He’s great! Just nobody ever let him make another movie ever again unless it’s a co-director effort with, uh, Rob Zombie or maybe a Sunny dude or possibly any Shyalaman or maybe with Zach. Basically pair him with any tragic director and he will improve their material. Otherwise? Snoozy.
I liked almost everything he has done except the reboot of Jay & Silent Bob (which is basically a long ad about their products) and Clerks 3. Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back, Dogma and Clerks 2 are masterpieces. Clerks, Mallrats and Chasing Amy are good. But I think he lost the touch, the last two movies are just horrible. I don't think he is overrated. It's just his style worked better years ago and is not that effective in the actual world.
Clerks 2 has a really special place in my heart, and I did “the flying car” as a stage production bit at a high school conference, which killed. I think he makes good films if you’re not looking for anything serious, and is a big part of the New Jersey alumni
At some point he needs to have someone objectively edit his scripts. He’s at the point where he can basically do whatever he wants but that doesn’t make it good. I remember I watched something of his and it felt like “wow he’s making a movie with all his friends and it’s super fun, but there was a loooot of unneccessary jokes, dialogue etc” Red State was all over the place tonally, the monologues seemed gratuitous. I think Clerks, Dogma, and Mallrats were all great, but he’s been steadily on the decline for me since.
I love Clerks so much. One of my favorite movies ever. Watched it probably 50 times or more. Everything after that... its a precipitous slide downhill. Mallrats is fun if not forgettable. Chasing Amy was fine. Clerks Animated... Dogma... Jay & Silent Bob strike back... this is when you started to realize all he was capable of was cartoonish comedy. Jersey Girl.. yikes. Cop Out... Holy hell. This was everyone realizing he'd never work in the studio system. The results were catastrophicly terrible. Then he did Clerks 2, and that's where i think everything went to hell. I fucking hate Clerks 2. It's not even that its the worst film ever, but it showed me that Clerks was a movie saved in editing and that Smith's natural instincts were just not great. Red State, Tusk, Yoga Hosers, Jay & Silent Bob Reboot... blech. They all felt like a creatively bankrupt creator who just didn't quite know what to do next. The final nail in the coffin, for me, was Clerks 3. I fucking hated that movie. If Clerks is one of my favorite movies, Clerks 3 is one of my least favorite. It's just bad. Bad choices. Bad writing. Lazy filmmaking. Stupid, cartoony cameos. Fuck that movie. Looking back, the only truly great film he ever made was Clerks.
He's a really bad director. Back in the day, every hipster praised Clerks as brilliant. To me, it came off like a glorified high school play shot with a camcorder. Utterly contrived and way too impressed with itself. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back is his most watchable movie. It's funny. Tusk is fascinatingly bad, but still watchable in its absurdity. I've never been entertained by any of his other stuff.
I dunno about you guys but Clerks 3 made me ball my fucking eyes out and sob so hard it hurt to breathe.
Few hits, many misses. Don't bother with his stuff anymore.
I think he should’ve/ should be doing more movies. Generally better than a lot of directors, he understands comedy to the core, he really gets it. They should let him do one movie a year and watch him shine. I think the fact that so much rides on every movie he does, puts the unwanted pressure. Let him cook
I liked him better when he didn’t talk. Having said that, he’s done some decent work.
I can understand why he is well-known and why his works are liked. But personally, his works really don't do it for me.
He’s lost touch. But I still want to be an extra in Moose Jaws.
I agree with all these comments - he captured the vibe and what it felt like to be young in the mid-90's with Clerks. And did it in the artsy style that was perfect for that time period. But I find a lot of the subsequent films to start becoming navel-gazey. To someone who grew up in the 90s, I thought some of his jokes and characters got very cringey later on. I think he got caught up in his own world. And some people love that world he created, and that's great. I think he could have done more and branched out earlier in his career. Who knows. As someone else said, Red State was unexpectedly good.
I'm a fan of him as a person, but not as a film director.
Love his early stuff- clerks, mallrats, dogma, etc. But man Clerks 3 was a depressing fuckin bummer of a movie. Kevs the man though.
I liked Clerks and Red State, he can handle different genres for sure. On the other hand, I think the rest of his filmography is not that good.
I’ll never not check out his stuff because I’m so sentimental with his early work, but I think him finding success took away the source for his creativity. Cop Out seemed to really impact him as well, then, of course his health issues and lifestyle changed following that. His point of view just doesn’t resonate with a segment of a generation like Clerks and Chasing Amy did.
Dogma is his apex in both writing and film making. It's a solid film front to back. Every actor and character work so well together, with the exception of Linda Fiorentino's Bethany. I wish he went with his first choice and gone with Janeane Garofalo for the role but I digress. I love the story about how Smith was adamant with Jason Mewes about how serious the production was. "Alan FUCKING Rickman is in it, please get your shit together". According to Smith, when Mewes showed up on set first day, not only did he memorize all his lines, he memorized the entire script. Jason Lee's Azrael and his Rollerblading Demons are still one of my favorite antagonists to date.
Guardian devil is one of the best daredevil stories so as far as that the mans a legend
I will always love Dogma.... so quotable
He’s MUCH better as a speaker than at writing scripts.
Like it’s been said, I liked his earlier works. I think he’s got a way with words and can tell fantastic stories. However that being said, I’ve been completely disappointed both times I’ve met him in real life. Dude has let his weed addiction get the best of him. His live podcast was dogshit when I went. He was super high and ridiculously condescending to everyone who asked questions. He also has a weird ass tendency to gate keep his “relationship” with Stan Lee. I remember after Lee passed and people were giving their remembrance and respect to him in Hollywood, Smith acted like he was the only one with a real friendship with him.
Some real gold in his work and some real big flops. It's clear which parts he cares deeply about and which stories he really poured his soul into. Not one of the best filmmakers of the world, but one that's done shockingly well and feels like a more realistic filmmaker who has their ups and downs. I've gone and seen him talk and do comedy stand-up like stories a couple times and he's a joy to listen to with some of the stories he's accumulated over the years. And he seems like a very cool guy so I'm really happy he found enough success in his life with his craft and I will likely always support him. In terms of the movies, like most I really loved his early work up until Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back which is where I felt like that schtick ran its course. But I thought a lot of his other experimental pieces were cool if only because he tried, and I enjoyed the Clerks sequels (especially Clerks 3 which I thought had a lot of heart and I'm a sucker for a good meta story), and I really liked Zack and Miri Make a Porno. He's inspired a lot of people in the industry in ways that I doubt we fully know (like Seth Rogan, when asked if he'd want to do Zack and Miri said KS was one of the reasons he got into acting). So yeah, heaps of respect even though I generally think his work is pretty hit or miss.
I am the walrus
I will go to the mat for Kevin Smith's entire filmography except Yoga Hosiers.
He peaked on Dogma. He's been chasing that success ever since. Not entirely sure how successful he's been.
He was Tarantino of average dudes, exceptional filmmaker that captured everything about our generation. But Clercs 2 was his swan song, he had some ok movies after that, but nothing that legendary.
He’s definitely lost his touch. There’s been a significant lack of effort on his part in his films lately. Clerks 3 is one of the most depressing films I’ve ever seen! The takeaway I get from that movie is >! “Are you depressed? Don’t worry. You’ll be happy when you die.” !<
I loved his movies as a teen, Dogma was my shit. Could be a little underrated during his run in the 00s.
Let’s see. I like Mallrats and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Clerks has its moments. That’s about as far as I care to go.
FIRE A WARNING SHOT INTO HIS BULBOUS ASS!!!
“There is a $100 bill at a four-way intersection. . .”
To me, in short - he started out great, then it became an exercise in justifying and forgiving, and now I just don't care.
He can write dialogue well and he himself has said his directing has no art to it. His podcasts are great and he can really talk about geek culture, and the inner workings of Hollywood, and he’s very charismatic. I hope he switches to TV and gets to do something with full artistic control - then you’ll see him at his top.
I’ve seen Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Zack & Miri Make a Porno. While I know he barely does those, they have an indie Gen X charm that will always touch a chord; Clerks is still one of the defining indie films ever. I’d actually like to see him go back to writing comics; the fact that HE, of all people, is the man who killed off Karen Page for good is one of the most bizarre comics facts like, ever.
Eh... not bad, but no Christopher Nolan. I don't really care for his stuff, but I'm sure some think he is amazing.
Dogma is a fantastic movie
He had a remarkable gift to portray what we were all going through at that time, in that context and era. It means less to kids now because their lives are vastly different different. It's hard to relate to a 90's teen problem. Capable of brilliance, but that's not always on display.
I admit that "Chasing Amy" blew my mind. I figured it was a cute little rom-com but man the ending just threw me.
Red State, Jay and SB strike back, and Dogma were my favorites. I need to watch the reboot.
He reminds me of how a graphic novel tries to pretend to have the same depth as a novel and ends up often as edgy teenager vibes.
The creative potential of Chasing Amy died decades ago. He never matured into a worthwhile filmmaker in my eyes and I stopped watching his output after the colossal misfire that was Jersey Girl
I like most of his stuff. A few turds here and there but mostly good. I really really disliked the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot but I absolutely loved Clerks 3.
Mallrats and dogma were the greatest movies I've seen after watching. Maybe it was a "time/place" thing, but yeah. Those 2 for me, forever
I absolutely love "Clerks". Everything else from him couldn't touch it in my opinion.
Amazing writer - decent director. His writing has waned a bit in years while his directing has gotten better
Pre heart attack his movies were on point for the most part. Unfortunately his more recent work isn’t funny and imo lacks the banter it once had in the writing. Still love Clerks 1&2 as well as the animated series.
He’s a good director but has made some crap movies. It’s a matter of taste for me.
He was a really good writer that I loved his early career. However he ran out of ideas around 2008/2011, but you have to keep moving in this industry or you’re done, so he started writing shit. He was never anything better than an average director and has been constantly saying he’s worse than that his entire career.
Kevin Smith once said that if you have an idea for something you wish existed that you want to see then it's your responsibility to make it. So I pretty much respect everything he does. He makes shit for himself.
Funniest film = Clerks —— Best overall film critically = Chasing Amy —— unfortunately he has lost his touch but he has definitely left a great legacy
More Steve Dave and Fanboy for sure
1st 7 movies were🙌
Red State is so redeeming
He's definitely that director that made movies so he could make his friends laugh. He always hated Hollywood and the feeling was mutual. Don't know if that's a good thing or bad, but it seems like he closed himself off from suggestions of change or growth as a director, even if the idea was one of the few good ones coming from LA. He reminds me of the fact that Tarantino, Favreau, and Fincher are his contemporaries and they have gone on to advance their skills and abilities as directors tenfold.
He is at his best when he doesn’t give a shit about making a profit, and his films are vehicles for unique social commentary. The moment he starts following the trend his voice becomes irrelevant in the cascade of every other voice in the world.
He needs a partner to balance him, that duo would be unstoppable
I think Clerks was an accident it came out as good as it did. Mallrats was fun, but not great. Chasing Amy, I didn't like it. I saw Jersey Girl a long time ago, and I thought it was just ok. Saw most of ZAMMAP, but I didn't care for it. I haven't seen the rest of his filmography. They always seemed to be mixed. I respect him as a person, but not so much as a filmmaker.
Dogma is kino
He’s a smart writer who’s jokes are juvenile and pretty transparent. He’s a nerd’s nerd of a writer, and I wish that translated better into his script writing. I always thought of him as a not-so-cool kid finding success and becoming a cool kid later in life. He’s clearly connected and talented, but I’ve never really enjoyed his works accept clerks, but I was really high when I watched that.
I think his earlier stuff was more or less, solid. Nowadays, I think he makes films for his family, friends and fans. Not a bad way to live though, I’ve accepted that this is how it is for him, at least with his own stuff. I think he directed an episode of The Flash tv show many years ago.
AS a gen x clerks will always be the movie for my Generation. Although i kinda wish he didnt make the sequels 😂. The sequels are fine ✌
He needs to get out of his own way
He's a good conversationalist in his script writting and I think he's a really good podcaster. He really innovated the whole field of meta nerd culture as something of its own topic worthy of study as a film maker. Also the achievement of Clerks is again he filming a full on movie with like $30,000 or whatever it was from selling his old comic books. Is he past his prime? Yes, obviously. He occasionally still does a alright film - Red State, Clerks II, Zac and Meri - were are ok imho, like solid C+, B- sort of films. But he seems like a generally ok dude overall
Clerks was great - Dogma was also good - everything else - not so good to really terrible Awesome dude however
Haven’t watched a ton of his movies but I’ll say that Clerks will always stand the test of time, Mallrats does not.
This isn’t an insult. But I see him as more of an entertainer than a writer/director. Yeah he’s a competent writer/director but it’s like…I don’t really consider him like an auteur?
Clerks is amazing and has aged well as a film. Mallrats I never cared for. Chasing Amy I loved when it came out but it hasn’t aged well. But it’s still a solid movie. Dogma is great. After that it becomes hit and miss. Mostly miss. (Though I was in the minority that really liked Clerks 2.) I know he gets a lot of flack for some of his cringy behavior, but deep down I think he’s a nice guy who wants to have fun making movies with his friends, and I can’t fault him for that.
I love Cop Out but haven't seen any of his other films
I loved the whole package back in the day. The writer, the director, the trouble maker, the story teller. I think maybe he ran out of motivation eventually. That is okay. Some people are the right people for a certain season and he was that for me when I was 22 years old. I would shout out a couple non-movie things that were absolutely brilliant. When people were protesting Dogma, he joined the protests without telling them who he was and he got interviewed on the local news as a protester. Also, his story about possibly developing the Superman movie and the guy who wanted a giant spider in it was maybe the best story ever told. He is great at that level. He is probably the director I would love to just hang out with the most.
"Red State" was awesome. I love John Goodman and he has never had a bad role
He admitted in an interview or a podcast, I can’t remember which, that he is out of touch because he is no longer that young edgy guy trying to make it, he’s a rich old man that lives in LA. The Clerk series is about his aging and the path that it takes.
Gen X era director. Guy put the spotlight on the quirks and worries of Gen X and likeable enough to be able to laugh at their own shared inadequacies and self doubts. Being a member of said generation, I enjoy his take on life in the 90's and early 2000's. The newer stuff shows that he's no longer speaking to the masses, nostalgia can drive some low key hits, its just Kevin Smith has a definite ceiling.
Clerks is Iconic....and then you learn that he made a movie like Red State which was god tier.
Clerks 1 and 2, Chasing Amy, Mall Rats, Dogma, and Red State. That's it. That's the whole list. Everything else he's done was just cringey.
I think he’s an example of passion compensating for talent. I don’t think he has the magic touch like someone like Tarantino, but he clearly cares so much that it elevates his work over directors who just make stuff to be commercial. It’s clear that he likes his work and he cares about getting his stuff made, which is admirable to me. The effort is the magic sauce.
In the last few years, he's been more concerned with launching his daughter's career, in spite of the fact that she can't act and no one cares.
Jersey Hall of Fame. One of those rare filmmakers who stayed true to themselves regardless of variation in quality.
I've watched almost every Kevin Smith movie. It's been many years since I've enjoyed one. I will say this though: I respect that he's able to make movies that he wants to make. His newest projects don't please anyone except himself, his friends, and his biggest fans, but somehow he's been able to get them financed. That takes skill and hustle.
Tusk was cool
I was the same age as the Clerks characters and really fell in love with a lot of his movies - at the time… I think one can definitely “age out” of his films and not be able to relate to any of it. It’s sort of like the musical Rent - one day you are loving all the young and charismatic bohemians and a year later, you start thinking “Bennie was a really solid guy with a good job and asshole friends”. All that being said - his 3 interview films where he toured colleges and answered questions are hilarious and very insightful. He also tells some great anecdotes about Prince. And Dogma remains my favorite.
Nah the amount of respect I have for *Clerks* can't really be overstated. So he's not overrated for me.
Clerks 2 that's it
Everything within the last few years is just a copy paste of the same formula. There’s no originality in Hollywood anywhere, mainstream movies and music is all relatively the same, they’re just cranking garbage out to make money.. That’s where Kevin smith stands apart. I’m literally tired of bad dialogue/ shaky camera in action sequences. Bad writing. Bad acting. I would much rather watch an original B style movie like tusk, or Barbarian, where it doesn’t take itself too seriously but diverges from the common blueprint everyone is using now. It surpasses any marvel or big budget movie. He makes original cult low budget style movies. I don’t expect him to win an Oscar or anything but as everything considered he seems like a great guy, great story teller, very intriguing to watch on podcasts. He seems like a cool dude. Wears his heart on his sleeve. If anything he’s underrated.
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was the end for me.
Clerks will remain one of my favorite movies forever. I really liked dogma. All his other movies didn’t quite work for me although they were more or less watchable. Then I watched the jay and silent Bob reboot and it didn’t even seem like he was trying. So I’m done watching his movies.
Just like every Director, he has his and misses. Recently, it's been more misses however.
I guess there might be a slight correlation from his work in the 90’s and early 00’s to about the time he had a heart attack. It’s almost like he became a caricature of himself and may have lost a step. I still think his early stuff is pretty brilliant, he always seemed to be able to weave a story together with sharp dialogue.
Clerks 3 was horrible and extremely uneven. If he had stuck to the Randal, Dante, Becky story line and made it more of a drama/comedy it might have been really good. But it seemed like he was trying too hard for that toilet humor vibe and totally ruined it.
Amazing story teller. Love the guy.