Some thoughts from a once HUGE fan of Kevin Smith

In about 9th grade, I was working at my local West Coast Video and we got in a movie called Mallrats. It sounded like a suitably juvenile, ribald comedy so I took it home and watched it. Just as I suspected, I took a bunch of solid laughs from it, but not a whole lot else. Awhile later, someone mentioned to me that this was the second part of a planned trilogy from the director and that the first film was a bit more substantial. I took home Clerks and was hooked. It contained the same humor as Mallrats, but with what I considered to be a bit more heart. It also spoke to the distinctly listless, middle class lifestyle I was born into. I'd had a huge interest in film as a medium from a ridiculously early age, and Clerks was one of the first movies I remember seeing where I thought "That's something like what I would make if I ever made my own film". I just had a strong feeling that Clerks was made by a guy who really UNDERSTOOD. I mean, we were even from the same crappy state.

From then on, I saw his next three movies in the theatre. Chasing Amy contained his trademark dirty humor, but was a little more nuanced and melancholy. (I think it took reaching young adulthood for me to truly appreciate this one. I'd say it's become my favorite Kevin Smith film actually.) Dogma was also semi-serious and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was essentially a big in joke for obsessive fans of Smith (which I definitely was at one point). I will leave out all talks of his sixth film Jersey Girl, not because it was objectionably bad, because it really wasn't, but just because it doesn't fit in with the his "View Askew" films, which I borderline obsessed with for awhile.

Anyway, I find myself in my early 20's, not finding these films nearly as relatable as I once did. I still LOVE Clerks, maybe moreso now simply because of the inspiration it offered me as a budding filmmaker/nerd than anything else, I can still watch Mallrats as a diversion if someone else wants to watch it, and I still find Chasing Amy to be a fairly effective love story, but I'm just not as nuts for the man as I once was.

The question is, why? There are certainly flaws in his filmmaking. I mean, Clerks is worthless visually speaking, and the acting is pisspoor. The only thing that makes it a good movie is the script. Mallrats would have been unwatchable if it wasn't for the performance of Jason Lee (bringing this former pro skateboarder into the mainstream eye is probably the best thing Kevin Smith has done). Chasing Amy has a HORRIBLE ending. Dogma wasn't really that good to begin with, and J AND SB SB is just a novelty.

Ultimately, however, I still consider myself a fan of the man and his art. It seems like he's been the subject of a huge backlash amongst his fans, which is in a lot of ways unfair. I've seen the man in a public speaking engagement and for a Hollywood director, he is nakedly unpretentious and remarkably upfront. Listening to him speak (and he did so for about 4 hours, answering EVERY fan's question), you get the impression this is a guy just like you and me, just kind of going with the flow and doing what he feels is right at any given moment. (which is the vibe I got when I first fell in love with Clerks a lot of years ago).

And now we find ourselves with Clerks 2. I haven't seen it yet, but my endearing love for some of his body of work will probably get me out to the theatre to see it soon. Without sounding too critical or too much like a typical Smith detractor, however, I definitely have my doubts. My biggest quibble is the whole "been there, done that" factor. Smith has made a living making movies with the same vibe, save for Jersey Girl, and part of me is just really fed up with him going back to the well. At the same time however, he has been very quick to point out that he feels Clerks 2 is a statement of his feelings at this point in his life, just like the original was. And since all through my teens/twenties, I identified with Clerks, maybe the same thing will happen with Clerks 2, even if it takes me awhile to full appreciate, like Chasing Amy.

I suppose the bottom line is I am waiting for him to wow me again. I want to believe that he's got another movie in him that will make me feel as excited and refreshed as Clerks did. I don't want to be one of those internet fanboys bitching that he lost his touch in like 1999. I don't know if Clerks 2 will be that movie or not, or if it will ever happen. I guess time will tell.