I enjoyed Woody Allen’s last movie, Match Point, and I’m looking forward to his new one, Scoop. The publicity campaign for Scoop has Allen giving interviews all over the place, and this one, from the Washington Post, is pretty interesting. Not that Allen was ever reticent about his neuroses, but it seems like he’s pretty much reached the point where he really doesn’t care what people think of him:
“I never wanted movies to be an end. I wanted them to be a means so that I could have a decent life — meet attractive women, go out on dates, live decently. Not opulently, but with some security. I feel the same way now. A guy like Spielberg will go live in the desert to make a movie, or Scorsese will make a picture in India and set up camp and live there for four months. I mean, for me, if I’m not shooting in my neighborhood, it’s annoying. I have no commitment to my work in that sense. No dedication.”
I could cut and paste a lot more, but the whole article is a good read. Check it out.
I saw Clerks 2. Here’s what I thought:
It is what Clerks would have been if Kevin Smith had $5 million when he made it. It features celeb cameos, relatively high production values, and a soundtrack that, sadly, replaces “Berzerker” with cheesy soft rock. The dialogue is the same–meaning it cavorts between the profane and the profound. Okay, mostly the profane.
I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t a particularly good movie. It was studded with references to earlier Smith movies and cameos from Smith’s extensive support group (unsurprising), its plot was thin and fairly predictable (unsurprising), the acting was often wooden (definitely unsurprising). The dialogue was awkward when not geeky or homophobic, and was consistently and continually obscene–this, of course, is no surprise either, but I was still occasionally floored by the extent to which Smith is happy to tackle subjects that plenty of people would rather never think about. This is definitely not one to see with your mom.
A short aside: Smith’s ideosyncratic dialogue has been compared to David Mamet’s, and I think it’s an apt comparison. There are actors who are good at delivering the lines (the guy who plays Randall; Jason Lee) and actors who are emphatically not (the guy who plays Dante is unfortunately the biggest transgressor here–he’s just so whiny or creepy, depending on whether he’s complaining or trying to act romantic). What’s interesting is that general acting chops seem to have little to do with this–Ben Affleck is not much of an actor but he does well in Kevin Smith movies, I think; Rosario Dawson is a decent actress but watching her try to wrap her mouth around these lines is pretty painful.The guy who plays Elias, Trevor Ferhman, turns out to be another guy who can handle Smith’s ridiculous dialogue. Despite his more or less one-dimensional character getting put through the embarrassment wringer, I think he was the funniest guy in the movie.
But anyway, there were a few great things about this movie.
- Most of the actors are homely.
Dante, who was not exactly a heartthrob in Clerks, has gotten chubbier, bumpier, and generally less attractive since then (this is not ignored in the script, either). Randall, who was skinny, gawky, and angular, has filled out considerably. He’s not fat but he’s round, and it took me a while to get used to the disparity. Rosario Dawson is pretty much the only attractive person in this movie (sorry, Kevin Smith, but your wife… not so much). And to be honest, it takes some getting used to–watching unattractive people make out is not a typical cinematic experience. But I appreciated it. Most of us aren’t blessed with natural good looks, the time to go the gym for four hours a day, and the money to get whatever surgical procedures might be necessary to put us over the top. So it’s nice to see characters on the screen who are no different. And, frankly, it works better for Smith’s style anyway. Who’s more likely to be fascinated by the minutia of science fiction movies and theology–beautiful cool people or hapless losers?
- The middle third of the movie.
It plods along before that, with a few laughs but mostly exposition and weak gags. And it falls apart, to a degree, after that, when Smith tries to tie things up in a way satisfactory to his rabid fans. But this movie has a sweet spot in the middle where a lot of funny stuff is happening. I won’t go into it except to say that the donkey show is, as it should be, the centerpiece of the film. It’s Kevin Smith at his best–hilarious and deeply disturbing.
- Jay and Silent Bob.
Still pretty funny, although if I never have to see Jay’s pressed ham again I won’t mind. (I won’t spoil the movie, but suffice it to say that there’s a moment in this one that goes well beyond a pressed ham. I think it was very funny but it definitely destroyed my last shred of innocence.) Jay, who was like seventeen when they made Clerks, is pushing thirty now, and thanks to a well-publicized battle with heroin, he looks it. There’s certainly something sad about a grown man recovering from hard drug addiction playing a childish drug pusher, but Smith uses that obvious concern here to good effect.
- The complete disinterest in pleasing a mainstream audience.
You gotta admire guys like Kevin Smith, David Lynch, Woody Allen, Michel Gondry, M. Night Shyamalan, and David Cronenberg. They make their movies the way they make their movies, and if nobody shows up that’s fine with them. The results aren’t always good but you can’t call them safe or boring. I’d trade one The Professional for a dozen Starsky and Hutches. But not Old School. You can pry Old School out of my cold, dead hands.
Now, all that being said, I cannot believe this movie got an eight minute standing ovation at Cannes. It’s a filthy, awkward, and slight vanity project. It’s an extended billet-doux from Smith to his rabid niche. It’s not a work of art–the only moment of actual cinematic ambition, a whirl-around-camera capturing an argument, comes off as adorably amateurish. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time watching it, but I just don’t buy the idea that a bunch of cineastes were so enthralled with the movie that they applauded for more than thirteen percent of an hour. The only thing I can think of is that it was essentially a long-overdue thank you for the original Clerks, which really did change the face of indie cinema. But this movie, Clerks 2, doesn’t deserve a standing ovation. It deserves a rental.
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