AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH

A night askew

By Tony Whitt     March 31, 2003

My initial reaction upon seeing the two-disc set AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH at my local Blockbuster was probably the same as that of a lot of people who know nothing about the actor-director-comic book writer: "An evening wasted with Kevin Smith, more likely." Imagine my surprise, then, at taking this four-hour epic home and finding that not only did I genuinely like Kevin Smith by the end of it, but I also wanted another two hours worth. Anyone who feels (as I used to) that Smith is a smartass who's full of himself need only watch this movie to have their minds changed. Or at least half-changed, since he can be a smartass, bless him.

AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH collects Q&A sessions from Smith's appearances at Cornell University, Kent State University, Indiana University, the University of Wyoming, and Clark University. The audiences are not what you'd expect: these kids are a curious mix, ranging from the frat boys who think the "stink palm" joke from MALLRATS is the epitome of humor to the politically active lesbian who takes issue with CHASING AMY. Smith handles all their questions with equal good grace (and the occasional well-deserved verbal bitch slap), and through it all we get to see a side of Smith we rarely get to see in his interviews, or even in his work: we see a guy who genuinely enjoys movies and comics, who's not afraid to make fun of himself, and who would rather put himself down first before anyone else has the chance. As much as he'd probably hate this word himself, Smith can be summed up in one word: charming. Even when he's taking some kid down a peg or two for making the dual mistake of being stupid and letting everyone else know it by opening his mouth, you can tell Smith is exactly the sort of guy you'd want to hang out with. (Obviously the kids think so too, as he gets lots of offers to do so, ranging from G- to X-rated.)

View Askew Productions fans will love the behind-the-scenes stories about CLERKS, MALLRATS, CHASING AMY, DOGMA, and JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, but the real highlights of the set are Smith's story about his abortive documentary done for the crazy pop star Prince; his sweet yet physically painful courtship with his wife (just watch the disc - the details are just a bit much for a family website like this one); and his sensitive handling of the well-reasoned objections of the aforementioned lesbian student to CHASING AMY. The surprise appearance of Jason Mewes at one of the sessions, and Smith's subsequent stories of how he met Jay and what Jay's like to work with, is simply icing on the cake - and it also makes it clear to us once and for all what someone like Smith has been doing hanging out with someone like Mewes all these years.

The only drawbacks to the movie are the somewhat off-putting cuts between the various Q&A sessions - director J.M. Kenny handles making what amounts to watching a guy behind a podium speak for four hours into a more interactive-feeling event, but finding oneself's shifting from Cornell to Clark to Wyoming and back again is sometimes a little confusing. The disc interface, featuring a Silent Bob-style performance by Smith waiting impatiently for you to make a selection, and the Easter eggs featuring even more footage from the Q&As, just about make the disc worthwhile, but this movie would work just about as well on tape, so long as the widescreen format were preserved. Otherwise, this is four hours well-spent, and when Smith says of Prince how much he enjoyed seeing a side of the star he'd never seen, we find ourselves thinking the same thing about him.

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