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It's a little strange to think that before I went to college, there really was no such thing as Kevin Smith, Jay & Silent Bob, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!", LaFours, and pretty much everything else that constructs the Askewniverse. Now, a mere six years later, Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and Dogma have engrained themselves into the college (and, for me, post-college) cult scene. Don't get me wrong, I hardly worship Smith as a god, or consider his films above and beyond the best thing that's ever happened to American cinema. In fact, when I think back to the first time I watched each of these movies, there was one reocurring theme:
I didn't like them.
But then, like a developing fungus, I started to appreciate what I once disliked. This goes back to my oft-hyped "Theory of Two": since your opinion of a movie is likely to change after repeated viewings (particularly since a first viewing can be influenced through numerous factors, including mood, viewing situation, and your general stage in life), you should see a movie at least twice before developing a concrete opinion of that film. I'm going to take a brief tour through my first (and following) impressions of Kevin Smith's works, what I liked and what I loathed.
I caught Clerks right off the store rack while I was on my first tour of duty as a video clerk. I had heard nothing about the film; I was largely convinced to rent it because (1) the numerous quotes on the box saying how funny it was, and (2) since I worked at the store, I could rent for free.
I remember watching it in my parents' living room, terrified that at any moment my mother would pop in the house and hear language used as it rarely has been used before on our TV. Or, even better, to see the girl having sex with the dead guy. I'm sure I would have had to spend the next couple months in a confessional, and I'm presbyterian.
Clerks was funny. But it was also really, really crude (Clerks raised the average from about 1 "mf" word per R-rated film to around 37) (yes, that was a poor joke), and it also struck me as depressing. I've been to New Jersey, that state is enough to send even visitors packing for the Valium after a couple of minutes. Add to it Dante, the anti-Ferris Bueller, who had horrible things happen to him up to the last couple minutes. I guess it also struck a little too close to home - Clerks just felt like real life. Twisted, of course, but that's sometimes how life is.
Of course, Clerks became on of my all-time favorite movies (and still the best out of all Smith's films, I contend). It became a fun sort of game during college to get a friend to see Clerks for the first time, and watch their faces as they saw this profanely funny flick. My friend Lance and I got a mutual friend Traci to see this one night. After it was over, she wiped the tears of laughter from her face and said something to the effect of "that was the most perverted movie I've ever seen, and also the funniest."
Another reason why Clerks still holds the king of the hill in my book is that all of the actors were unknown, relatively first-time people. Sure, they weren't as polished as Matt Damon or Chris Rock, but Dante and Randal weren't actors on the big screen to me. They were just funny guys with screwed-up lives that lived right down the block. Plus, Jay and Silent Bob weren't the toned-down (yet still hilarious) versions they became in Mallrats and Dogma; they were drug dealers, despised for it, but still a part of life.
Another picked-up-off-the-video-shelves experience (I've only seen Dogma in theaters). By this time, I was in my second round of video clerk duty at the much-loathed Video Update (kind of like Big Choice Video). I was recommending Clerks to every customer I met, and spent the rest of my time rollerblading around the store, taking naps on the counter, and blatantly watching movies on our 36" TVs.
But back to Mallrats. This film was 180 degrees from Clerks - it was in color, a lot more cartoonish (not even talking about the comic book theme here), and only brought back Jay and Silent Bob. I discovered something then, if you grow too fond of just one Kevin Smith movie, you'll sort of resent the rest for being too different. Mallrats just wasn't as gritty as Clerks. I really hated the wimpy character of T.S., since it left Jason Lee as Brodie to carry the film. Also, because both Clerks and Mallrats take place in mostly one location, it forced too many comparisons in my mind.
On multiple watchings, however, Mallrats' many good qualities came to light. I love the fact that Mallrats has so little emotional baggage to fling around, and thus makes it a through-and-through comedy. Clerks had Dante and the pile of crap raining down on him; Chasing Amy concluded with one of the most depressing endings of cinema history (but more on that later). But Mallrats is the easiest Smith film just to pop into my DVD player and relax to. Plus, Jay and Silent Bob really rule here (at least until Dogma).
And of course, the late Mallrats DVD is about the best DVD I own. Tons of extras, a really funny commentary, and themed menus that instantly get me into the mood of the film.
What, are we up to my third or fourth year of college yet? Having sold my friends on Clerks and Mallrats, I was fully prepared to embrace Smith's new effort. I hadn't even heard of it being in theaters, so I managed to nab it on video.
[Warning: I'm going to talk about the ending here, but then I'm also assuming you've seen these films before reading this.]
The first half or so of Chasing Amy is funny, smart, and risqué. Then we dive into the latter half, where Holden discovers Alyssa's background and the relationship falls apart. The laughs go from steady to few and far between, and the ending just barely manages to lift the film back up from the emotional nose-dive it just took. How could I like this movie? Part of me still doesn't, really. Lesbians aside (and this film really isn't about homosexuality, not if you look at it closely), Chasing Amy is about dealing with your significant other's past sexual history. Personally, that strikes close to home because I've gone through this situation with numerous girlfriends. How do you react when you discover you're not the first, or the fifteenth, or even the first gender?
What's redeemed Amy for me is the ultimate message I got out of it. Holden really screws things up by suggesting a three-way with his best friend and Alyssa; even after his soul-searching, all he can think of is that his girlfriend's had more sex with more partners than he has, and he needs to be on some sort of similar level. It made me really hate him when he did that, but then I looked past Holden's idiotic mistake to the surrounding scenes. Silent Bob goes on a rambling story of basically the same thing that happened in Amy and how he put the emphasis in his relationship on sex instead of love. Alyssa is a model for a lot of people I know: they've made their mistakes, and they realize that, hey, maybe sex isn't that important after all. Maybe, just maybe, it's about caring for that other person NOW instead of just seeing all their past mistakes. She shows utter dedication to Holden by loving him even when it gets her outcast by all her other friends. And, fortunately, even Holden seems to get it in the end with his comic book (yes, I refuse to call them "graphic novels", even to this day).
So once I made my peace with the message of Chasing Amy, I found myself liking it a heck of a lot more. I particularly like how it fights against labeling people (or labeling themselves). And Holden, well Holden is hysterical. Black, gay, and angry in America is a great place to be.
Which doesn't quite bring me to...
Okay, so maybe I liked Dogma from the start. I've only seen it once (just waiting for that special edition DVD to pop out), but in retrospect it became a lot more funny.
A confession: I don't really like Ben Affleck WITH Matt Damon. Damon gives the air of a smirky know-it-all, and that rubs off in every film he shares with Affleck. So thus, I liked the scenes with Bartleby and Loki the least. Fortunately, there's a lot more to be had without them, and even more fortunately with Jay and Silent Bob.
Not all that blasphemous but certainly vulgar, Dogma resurrects the classic road trip movie and has a blast interpreting Catholicism and religion in general. There were points of theology that I disagreed with, but a lot that I liked as well. In any case, I like to be supportive of movies that tackle the always-volitile subject of religion. I figure if we're going to ban every movie that has a point of religion that you remotely disagree with, what filmmaker is ever going to want to engage in that subject again? As a Christian, I am firm in my beliefs and faith that a mere movie isn't going to attack and rip up my whole world; rather, I like to be engaged in approaching religion in all new ways of thinking.
The huge cast of Dogma works to the advantage of the film as well. Alan Rickman as the sexless angel is a role of a lifetime, I think. It's definitely more contemporary and less cultish, but I can deal with that as long as the jokes are still there, Jay won't shut up until God makes him, and the pop culture references never cease.
So that's about it. I'm a little sad to hear that Smith's next endeavour will be the last of the Askewniverse, but a little excited as well to see the "Ultimate Jersey Flick". Seeing one of these films is always like revisiting an old neighborhood I've been a part of since '94. A few lessons on life, a lot of cheap laughs about pornography, and never a dull moment.
