[ Post a Response | Justin Lee ]
Posted by Justin Lee on 7/24/2006, 9:28 pm The original "Clerks" was a true diamond in the rough. A guy wrote a great script that not only made you laugh, but made you think at the appropriate moments. It captured themes that every person has gone through in their life. Yes, the visual quality was piss poor, but the great dialogue more than made up for it. Segway into "Mallrats." I think rats was kind of funny. Not super funny, but entertaining enough. It was pure hollywood interpetation of what made "Clerks" good. And as usual, Hollywood got it wrong. It was not the raunchiness that made "Clerks" a great film, it was the realness, combined with great comic moments, and the theme that people could relate too. Everyone wrote Kevin off as a one hit wonder, until "Chasing Amy", the best movie Kevin Smith ever made. It was very much in the style of "Clerks" with improved visuals (not great, but improved). Thus the legend of the Jersey trilogy grew (as all the main characters in these 3 movies lived in Jersey and were connected some how or another). Kevin, knowing where his bread and butter was, decided to add a fourth movie to the Jersey trilogy, but went in a different direction. Instead of the realistic characters/buddy/realistically raunchy style of scripts he had been producing, he made DOGMA. DOGMA was both good and bad for me. I read the DOGMA script and thought this was going to be the greatest movie ever made. I saw this a serious film with great surreal and comedic moments. This film could have been great without the comedy. It really made me think. But the final product had hollywood touches on it that took away from the riskiness and kind of watered it down, although there were still great moments. Affleck's monologues were great. DOGMA costs a few million to make, and ends up making something like 30 million, so it's considered a success (not a hit). Mirimax decided to give Kevin another shot at big budget, in what is supposed to be the last of the "Jersey Trilogy" (now a 5 movie series). Kevin decided to go all comedy with "Jay and Bob Strikes Back". This movie was more or less the same thing as MALLRATS ... and it lacked that personal touch that we had seen in Chasing Amy and Clerks. But it was kind of neat to see all the characters from the previous 4 movies show up. Moderately successfull film. Kevin Smith than decided to spread his wings and make a movie that has nothing to do with the "Jersey Trilogy." He pens Jersey Girl. Good in theory, but made as a mainstream romantic comedy. He caters to buddy Ben Affleck's request, and puts Jennifer Lopez in the film. Bad call, as publicity prior to the film about these 2 killed off chances for it to succeed. Kevin Smith is not a romantic comedy writer. This was not a great film. Not a bad film. Kind of stuck in film limbo. But from a financial stand point, this was a bad film. This is where I believe Kevin Smith's confidence as a filmmaker was shook. He went back to what was safe, and wrote CLERKS 2. And thank God he did. I went in with low expectations, thinking that Kevin was just trying to get one more payday and had nothing left. I was wrong. In Clerks 2, Kevin ads that personal touch back in to Smith style dialogue and raunchiness. The Randal and Jay characters were at their comedic best. The romantic element is in there, and it makes sense. I identified with the character. But it wasn't overly played. I didn't feel like I was watching a forced romantic storyline. Rosario Dawson impressed me. Jay impressed me. Randall was spot on. Even the Dante character carried the lead well. Definitely worth seeing.
Message modified by board administrator 7/25/2006, 11:36 am
I, like others on this board, have been dissapointed at Kevin Smith, starting with "Jay and Bob Strike back."
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