The Rise & Fall of Kevin Smith, in my opinion Part 1

The other day I introduced my son to Kevin Smith by when we screened his first film Clerks.  My son, Canaan, loved it!  I remember twenty years ago I was working at the video store Movie Gallery and it was then that I was first introduced to Clerks and I to love it.

I quickly watched Mallrats & Chasing Amy to close out his then titled Jersey Trilogy.  I bought all three on DVD and considered getting the DVD slipcase that he was selling on his website to house the three of them together.

I watched all the special features of the films, listened to the directors commentary tracks and even really dug the original Mallrats opening.  What I loved was how the three films all tied together with their backstories and relationships both family and friendship between the characters.

I missed seeing Dogma in the theaters but I remember when it was released on home video, which I also bought the DVD and devoured all the bonus content.  What I loved about the Jersey Trilogy was that all the stories were very believable.  Dogma was cool, but the story was much more fantasy, but I still loved it.  It was full of all the things I love about Kevin Smiths early film, great dialogue, intriguing characters, great humor.  What I had grown to expect from his movies.

In 2000 we got Clerks the Animated Series, only 2 episodes aired on ABC before it was cancelled but I dug them.  Eventually the series with all six episodes was released on Home Video.

In 2001 we got Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, which I did go see in the theater.  At that time this was supposed to close out the Jersey stories and featured Jay & Silent Bob going to Hollywood to shut down the production of a movie based on the comic book Bluntman & Chronic who are based on them.

We got to see all the characters from Clerks, Mallrats, & Chasing Amy back again, with some actors like Jason Lee playing both his rolls of Banky Edwards and Brodie Bruce.  It was a campy and over the top but a wonderful homage to his characters of the past.  I really enjoyed the movie and was a bit sad that he was closing the doors on those characters.

An Evening with Kevin Smith came out in 2002 and was the start of a series of DVD releases with Smith doing Q&A sessions.  This first release with a run time of 3.5 hours was two discs and featured him speaking at five universities.

Kevin has an amazing ability to tell stories and I found there first three DVD release's to be fantastic.  The fourth was him answering one question about Bruce Willis and Cop Out that left him ranting for 2 hours.  Apparently they released a DVD that was the full 3.5 hour special.  The fifth I never saw.

Smith's first film outside his Jersey-verse was the critically panned Jersey Girl released in 2004.  I didn't think it was that bad.  Can't say I've watched it more than once, but from what I remember it was decent.

It was this negative experience that drove Smith back to friendly territory and the 2006 Clerks II.  I fucking loved this movie!  Dante & Randal back together with some new characters and all the Kevin Smith genius that I loved.

Up next for Smith was Zack & Miri Make A Porno.  It featured Smith regulars Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson, not playing Jay & Randal though.  This is a great film with the standard Smith style of writing and dialogue that I've always loved.

However this would prove to be the final Smith movie, to date, that featured his unique style that he built himself on and that I was a fan of.  I blame Seth Rogen for this which I will talk about in part 2.

Until Next Time