Here is a bittersweet tragicomedy in five acts.
1994 - Clerks, famously made on just $27,000, premieres to universal acclaim. Critics earnestly compare Kevin Smith to Linklater and Tarantino. He is 24 years old.
2004 - With a mixed track record of five dick-and-fart-joke movies under his belt, Smith attempts a PG-13 romantic comedy. Jersey Girl gets torn to shreds and Smith enters a deep depression.
2008 - Returning to his comfort zone of dick-and-fart-joke movies, Smith releases Zack and Miri Make a Porno during "Peak Seth Rogen" and expects a huge hit. Instead it bombs. Smith once again enters a deep depression, and begins smoking marijuana in order to cope with his stress and anxiety.
2014 - Smith, now 44 years old, high all of the time, has spent years feuding with everyone from Bruce Willis to Southwest Airlines. He releases Tusk, a real mess of a movie, but an interesting one, and a welcome change of pace after a decade spent pursuing mainstream success. He finally seems to be at peace with his career, more focused on "having fun making weird-ass movies" than "giving a shit."
2016 - Yoga Hosers happens. It is, critics and audiences agree, the worst movie of Kevin Smith's long career. And he does not enter a deep depression.
You skipped over 2011... when Red State came out. I thought that was a brilliant picture. Not to mention your statement, "With a mixed track record of five dick-and-fart-joke movies under his belt.." kind of glosses over the accomplishments of Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma. All three are great films -- especially Dogma.
ReplyDeleteBut in regards to this Canadian trilogy he's working on (Tusk, Yoga Hosers, and -- to come -- Moose-Jaws), I have no real interest in. I appreciate the guy's attitude towards life nowadays of just doing whatever makes him happy, because, in the end, shouldn't that be the only thing that matters to an artist? (Would be nice to have the critics and box office success on your side as well, but take what you can get!)
I do look forward to a Mallrats mini-series and Clerks III that are both in development... but I have hopes that there will be some original material lurking around the corner too. Something that can really wow me just like Dogma was able to all those years ago.
I haven't seen Red State yet, but Keith says the same thing. I should!
ReplyDeleteBy "mixed track record" I meant critically - like in the eyes of the people who'd anointed him the next Linklater. They hated Mallrats and were lukewarm on Dogma. (I liked both a whole lot! Mallrats remains my favorite of his movies.)
And yeah, there's no need to see the "Far North" trilogy. It's the result of him getting high a whole lot and pitching/spitballing movie ideas on his podcast with guests, same as any of us would, except he's got the connections and experience and money to go out and actually make such movies. Tusk was, at the very least, novel. Yoga Hosers is just bad, bad, bad. Like if someone took our collective multimedia class scripts and brought them to life with professional production.