THE DANMAN CAN

"No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater...than central air." Kevin Smith 's "sacrilegious," "profane" religious satire,  Dogma  (1999), holds up about the same as his other most-beloved works for me—meaning sometimes I find him too clever for his own good, sometimes his dialogue is really great, and sometimes his staging, action, pacing, and editing are pretty average. All of that applies to  Dogma , which caused the most controversy of his career (even leading to death threats), but I still have a soft spot of sorts for the director and this film (which has the best cast of any of Smith's films). Kevin Smith Feature Films Ranked

Cop Out (2010) has a reputation for being mostly reviled, but despite that, despite  Kevin Smith  and Bruce Willis having beef  on set, and despite it being a fairly generic buddy cop outing, I still enjoyed it and I laughed a bunch. I realize that might be damning it with faint praise, but I was honestly expecting CO to be much worse and I'm not really sure I quite understand the hate toward the film. I'm not saying it's a film I would revisit often, but as a Smith (a director I don't expect masterpieces from) version of  48 Hrs.   (1982) or  Lethal Weapon (1987), it works just fine. You can find my  Kevin Smith Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

I've been both revisiting and first-time watching  Kevin Smith 's filmography in the last several months. His "sacrilegious," "profane" religious satire,  Dogma  (1999), holds up about the same as his other most-beloved works for me—meaning sometimes I find him too clever for his own good, sometimes his dialogue is really great, and sometimes his staging, action, pacing, and editing are pretty average. All of that applies to Dogma , which caused the most controversy of his career (even leading to death threats), but I still have a soft spot of sorts for the director and this film (which has the best cast of any of Smith's films). You can find my  Kevin Smith Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

Kevin Smith 's 2008 feature Zack And Miri Make A Porno is a sweet-hearted rom-com that is actually less raunchy than his usual fare. I sorta avoided this one because it was released during a time when I wasn't really dying to see KS films, and while it's not exactly landmark cinema, I had a fun time with it and liked it perhaps slightly more than expected. Traci Lords doesn't have enough screen time and neither does Justin Long , who is pretty hilarious in this. No real surprises here and the humor is way over-the-top, but Z&M  is an enjoyable enough way to spend about a hundred minutes.  You can find my  Kevin Smith Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

Chasing Amy (1997) is not without its problems regarding its characters and portrayals but it's still a very good romantic comedy, in this viewer's opinion. You can certainly tell that the film was written by Kevin Smith (a hetero male), but personally I don't feel that invalidates it. There's no doubting that this film wouldn't get made today, at least not anything like how it turned out in 1997.  In a way, I appreciate its now antiquated view of the LGBT world, if only to recognize that Smith, 26 at the time, was taking a risk with the subject matter (remember this was a mainstream film). Even if he was going to make a fool of himself (and even if large parts of the film haven't aged well)—he felt he needed to tell this story, from his perspective. I do think there are parts of Chasing Amy that have held up well, insomuch as some of the dialogue still feels relevant and I think Smith's heart was in the right place. The filmmaking itself isn't terribl...

Oof. Jay And Silent Bob Reboot (2019) started out pretty decent and I was digging the first maybe twenty minutes or so. As soon as Harley Quinn Smith showed up it took a nosedive (she really is not a good actor and the film relies far too heavily on her to drive the story). The film as a whole is not terribly funny, it's obnoxiously meta, and it tries way,  way too hard to be current with all the woke characters and dialogue (something I honestly think won't age well at all).  While I can appreciate Smith trying to make Jay ( Jason Mewes ) a bit more conscientious and less "bro-y," he just feels flat here. And Smith himself as Silent Bob (and as himself) is insufferable in both roles. Everything just feels really forced. There are a few scenes that tug at the heartstrings but overall J&SBSB  is far too "heartfelt" and safe.  I'm not sure if this was a letdown exactly, as I wasn't expecting much, but it was definitely worse than I expected, and...

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) holds up pretty well for what it is—a crude, silly, road trip comedy populated by  Kevin Smith 's  View Askewniverse  characters. A lot of the humor is still pretty funny, the cameos are mostly fun, and Jay ( Jason Mewes ) even kind of has a story arc. I also love the references and allusions to Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)—it being my favorite film and all (my blogpost for that film here ). Everyone just looks like they had a really good time making this film and there is a goofy charm that is hard to deny. You can find my  Kevin Smith Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

Clerks II  (2006) is honestly not a terribly great movie. Some of the jokes have aged very poorly and attempts at being subversive just come off as tone deaf. But there is an endearing quality to these characters, both old and new, and a slightly more dramatic approach to this sequel to the 1994 classic that shines through. I can't help liking it, flaws and all. A lot of that is Rosario Dawson —she really centers the film and it's difficult to resist her charm. Kevin Smith 's direction is perhaps better here, but the whole film is a different beast—one for being shot in color and also because Smith wasn't a starving artist trying to make a statement at this point in his career. While I prefer the rough-around-the-edges caliber of the first film, it makes sense that Smith didn't want to repeat himself. The trajectory of the characters feels realistic. Clerks II  is not nearly as quotable as its predecessor, but there's definitely memorable lines and scenes. The ...

I was never a mallrat. I went to the mall, like anyone else, but I didn't enjoy "hanging out" there or spending more time than necessary. I preferred to frequent places like New England-based retailer Newbury Comics  (where I eventually worked from 2000–2008)—this was in the days before many of their stores were in malls—to pore over compact discs and vinyl. Nevertheless, when I was 15 (and after falling head over heels for Kevin Smith 's debut Clerks on video   the previous year), I could find enough to relate to in his sophomore effort,  Mallrats , to greatly enjoy it.  A notorious box office bomb, Mallrats  has gone on to have a cult following—Smith referred to it as "the Blade Runner of comedy" (my review of that film  here ) in a commentary for the film. I've always liked it a little less than Clerks  but always found it funny (hilarious at times, honestly), so it's been strange to see the turnaround in attitude toward the film. It always ...

Some moments that didn't seem to make sense bothered me, but overall I liked this a lot. Far more than I thought I would, based on all the negative reviews/comments.

Pivotal film for me. It holds up fairly well and I do still enjoy watching it, but it doesn't hold nearly the same meaning for me as it used to.  I probably would have rated it ***** when I was 14 .