It’s Not All Dick and Fart Jokes….

I just re-discovered Kevin Smith.

I say re-discovered because I’ve known of Kevin Smith for what seems like forever. You can’t be a long time comic fan without being aware of Smith and his movies. He’s one of the key factors in the shift of comics from geek only into a sort of hip, arty sub-culture.

I saw Clerks when it first hit video back in the day. (“The day” being short hand for “I’m too lazy to go look up the actual date”.) I missed his next couple of films, but I caught Dogma.

I hated it.

Now, I know that’s not the “cool” opinion to have on that film. (And to be honest, it’s not my opinion now.) But the damn thing rubbed me the wrong way. With all the hype about how original and daring it was, what I saw was a lot of ideas borrowed from Garth Ennis’ Preacher, some stoner jokes and a rubber poop monster. I wasn’t impressed.

And that was it for Mr. Smith. Until a couple of weeks ago.

I was reading through some music threads on Fark when I stumbled across the text of a lengthy anecdote about Prince, as told by Kevin Smith. It was funny, insightful and full of personality. So much so, that I hit YouTube and found several clips of Kevin telling other, even funnier anecdotes. (Most of them culled from the DVD “An Evening With Kevin Smith”.)

I decided it was time for a re-assessment of my opinion. So it was off to Netflix, where I queued up all his films, all the special features discs and both of his “Evening With…” sets. I spent the last couple of weeks watching nothing but Kevin Smith and yes, my opinion of the man and his films has changed. Dramatically.

Clerks. Mallrats. Chasing Amy. Dogma. Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. Jersey Girl. Clerks II.

There are threads that run through all of these movies. (Or most of them. Jersey Girl is an exception to some of these threads.) Obviously, the films all center, at least in part, around New Jersey, where Smith grew up. They all feature dialogue that, while full of dick and fart jokes, has its origins in Shakespeare, with characters speaking in elaborate and thoughtful monologues. Most of them feature appearances by Smith and his best friend, Jason Mewes, as Jay and Silent Bob, an on screen pair whose ridiculous antics have to be seen to be believed.

And oddly, most of these films (in fact, all of them with the exception of the original Clerks) feature an underlying romantic sweetness that almost completely belies Smith’s public persona. So much so that I believe that sweetness to be much closer to the real Kevin Smith than the sarcastic front he presents. Which might be why Jersey Girl (often viewed as his biggest failure) comes off, to me, as his best work. Stripped of dick and fart jokes and the other over-the-top trappings of his previous films, Jersey Girl is an honest, straight ahead, romantic drama/comedy. It has great performances, great dialogue and great feeling.

But don’t take that as a swipe at his other work. I’ve become a big fan of the View Askewniverse. In fact, I’ve laughed so much over the last two weeks that I may have developed a permanent stitch in my side. (The donkey show in Clerks II alone almost had me in convulsions.)

And I’ve revised my opinion of Dogma as well. Without the surrounding hype the movie plays very well, with Smith’s well crafted dialogue taking center stage amidst the chaos.

Smith is currently working on a new film, Zack and Miri Make A Porno. I can’t wait to see it.