Do Kevin Smith's Movies Hold Up?

So I find it interesting that I generally enjoy these films being an individual that is not privi to the nostalgia of them though don’t get me wrong I think you hit the nail on the head, at least on the psycho analysis of the target audience. I’m 20, I’m not far off graduating with a Batchelor of film. I actually completed the view askewniverse for the purpose of watching your video essay hence why I’m late to the party. There’s an undertone behind it of this man (Kevin) going from nothing to something for example whenever a bigger name appears in one of his movies, what started as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck then Chris Rock in Dogma and Will Smith in Jersey Girl I get a big kick out of it as it makes that seemingly insurmountable summit that is the film industry a little less daunting. I think it may be self evident that going into the film industry with the cognisance that the odds of success are minimal and said odds are exacerbated by the current state of the world makes one cherish the moment of possible parallels to other individuals careers. For this I typically look to Taika. Yes I was exceedingly perturbed by the homophobic slander that permeates his filmography. And the blasé nature he dealt with Racism and animal abuse in clerks 2. Maybe more than most due to me being an Aussie. However, possibly because our sense of humours align but every single one of his films I had some king of significant emotional connection too or in the case of Jay and silent bob centric films found them hilarious. PS your dads spiel at the end of the video was the best part. PPS Is Jason Lee just a proto Ryan Reynolds (His preformante in Dogma) Finally Big fan looking forward to learning more as you continue to produce videos

Good work on the boosting of Clerks the Animated Series. It is indeed excellent and the best thing he's been involved in.

VW

Thanks Patrick, this video was as made for me. I also grew up on Kevin Smith movies in my early 20s, and thought they were awesome and profound. I have a clear memory of seeing Clerks 2 at Stockholm Film Festival and thinking it was so great (probably also a bit of the film festival magic). But I have been thinking about how it would be to revisit these movies, so I'm glad you did it for us!

I never "got" the Kevin Smith thing, and only ever got through Mallrats (meh) and Dogma (okay-ish?), so... I found this an interesting presentation as to why I it's best that I never tried digging deeper into his filmography. Also: Your dad's QMS bit is pure gold and you were right to make it the credits reel footage.

Karel P Kerezman

This was one of your sader videos. I'm two years older than you are and feel pretty much the same about all these films and Kevin Smith and was always scared to go back. I think this helped me really close the book on this chapter without going through all of these again. I'm glad those movies were there for me back in the day but I don't need them anymore.

Markus Huppert

Loved this video! I had a similar relationship with Kevin Smith growing up and did a rewatch of some of my favorites and they definitely do not hold up. Still, some of my favorite memories will be uncontrollably laughing with friends during Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and convincing my religious parents to watch Dogma (not a great idea).

Stephen Ayres

Be careful critiquing Kevin..you will get a passive aggressive "Sir" reply.....

Man, this was a rough watch, but spot on. I'm very similar to Patrick, I watched his films growing up and went to film school because of people like him. But his movies haven't aged well. I never saw Cop Out, but did see Red State, and that's where I left him. I do hold his films fondly because they play a part in my own film history. I too was curious about the new Jay and Bob film, I hoped it would be a return to the classic Smith, but it wasn't so much a Reboot, but a rehash. I haven't seen Jersy Girl since it came out and hadn't noticed/remembered it was shot so differently to his others. Smith recently released a BTS of Tusk to his youtube channel, a film I haven't seen, but I watched some of the BTS. There's a moment where he's scouting a location and someone asks him where would he put the camera and he says something like 'I don't know, that's not my job', and I think that sums up his career.

James Wall

Great video! I agree with many of your impressions (I also revised many Kevin Smith's movies during the quarantine) but Kevin Smith wasn't so important in my adolescence. It's a pity that the character has eaten the filmmaker and that he seems more interested in please a hardcore fan than improving his filmmaker abilities.

Dr Tenma

If there's an unedited version of the Quicksilver Messenger Service monologue, it absolutely needs to go up on the second channel, that was gold! Edit: Nevermind, I definitely should have waited until the Patreon credits before posting!

Since you asked whether anyone from my generation (Gen Z) is still finding and enjoying these movies, here's been my experience with Kevin Smith: When I was in middle school and just getting into comic books, I discovered the show Comic Book Men on AMC. I had no idea who Kevin Smith was at the time, but I enjoyed that show. I then started following Kevin Smith more as a person once he started doing work with Screen Junkies, and for years I considered myself a fan of Kevin Smith the personality, despite having only seen Clerks once in 10th Grade and thinking it was pretty good. Earlier this year, I saw that Kevin Smith was going to be coming to my hometown for his Reboot Roadshow, so I decided to buy tickets. I didn't really have much interest in the movie itself, but I was excited to see him speak for about an hour and a half in person. But, since I was going to be seeing the movie anyway I decided that it was time that I finally checked out some of his earlier work. I watched Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and thought it was enjoyable enough but definitely had the same take you did in that it felt like a lesser Judd Apatow movie. I rewatched Clerks and liked it slightly more, having more of an appreciation for the low-budget indie feel than I did when I was younger. I watched Mallrats which I didn't like that much, and still think is probably his worst movie that I've seen. I then watched Chasing Amy, fully expecting it to not hold up that well considering the subject matter, and while there's definitely problems I actually think that Amy's discovering of her bisexuality and her feeling outcast from the lesbian community is more interesting a story arc than people give it credit for. I then watched Dogma and Strike Back, which were both fun enough and had some laugh-out-loud moments, but I imagine they're probably not that rewatchable. I thought Clerks II was ok but vastly inferior to the first when I watched it, but the more I thought about it the more I disliked its themes. I then went to the Reboot Roadshow, and I really liked Reboot but am fully aware that that was not the best environment to critically evaluate that movie. 1. I had just bingewatched the entire View Askewniverse for the first time in preparation so I was primed enjoy the style and to look out for all the references. 2. I was with an understandably enthusiastic crowd, which always makes it more difficult to dislike a movie. 3. I listened to Kevin Smith talk for a while after that, which was very enjoyable, and made me leave the theater feeling good. I have yet to watch the movie outside of that very unique experience, but I can imagine it probably does not hold up very well. Anyway, sorry if this was a bit of a ramble but you mentioned wondering how someone like me would respond to his movies so I thought I'd give an answer. TL;DR I was a fan of Kevin Smith as a personality way before I even saw his actual work, and now that I have seen some of them I think they're good but not great, and definitely agree with most of the points in your video.

Eliot Gammons

This was a great topic! Really enjoyed :)

Rob