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Kevin Smith Gives a Shit. Period.

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | August 1, 2016 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | August 1, 2016 |


There’s a lot of Kevin Smith’s DNA in this site, whether we want to admit it or not, and it’s not just me. It’s Courtney. And Seth, and I’m guessing that the conversational style of many of the writers here, the casual use of profanity, and our collective oversharing can be traced in many ways back to Kevin Smith. Maybe the smarter kids go to Linklater or Wes Anderson, but many of us trace our influences back to the 36 37 dicks Dante’s girlfriend sucked in Clerks.

It’s a blessing and a curse.

The relationship we have with our heroes isn’t always smooth, however, and in the case of the accessible Kevin Smith that disappointment can actually get back to him. Back when he released Cop Out, for instance, Smith lashed out at many of the critics who lashed out at him for making the Bruce Willis movie. We were among those critics, and while I tried not to engage with Mr. Smith on Twitter personally, one of our former writers did take the bait and Smith embarrassed the sh*t out of us (well played).

We’ve also had a tendency to personalize reviews of Kevin Smith movies (rather, I have had a tendency) because of what the guy means to us. It’s not his fault, really, but when you listen to his podcasts, watch all his movies, and grow up with the guy, you begin to feel like you have a weird personal stake in his career, in part because Kevin Smith conditioned us to feel this way.

I don’t know where I’m going with this except to say that — for all the praise, and all the shit we have given him over the years — we love the guy, because we can’t not love the guy. Whatever else you want to say about his movies, Kevin Smith is a good person. He loves his fans, and he cares.

That’s why he took issue with a review of Yoga Hosers over at Birth.Movies.Death that suggested that Kevin Smith does not care. I have not seen Yoga Hosers yet, because it’s not out until September, but I will. Because I see all of his movies and I probably always will, but according to Smith, the third act of that movie was a metaphor — a “quasi-apology to critics” he fought with back in those Cop Out days.

Kevin Smith does care. It’s dumb for any of us to suggest otherwise. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to give him shit when his movies suck, but we’re not going to stop watching his movies, either, because he’s Kevin. He’s fucking Silent Bob. He’s part of the goddamn family. Kevin Smith is our people, goddamnit.

Consider this our quasi-apology to Smith. Oh, and just because we’re going to make fun of Mallrats 2 for the next year doesn’t mean we’re not going to watch the shit out of it when it’s released.