DVD An Evening With Kevin Smith 2 - Evening Harder:
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Editor: Sony Pictures
Category: Comedies - Comedy - Comedy Video - Feature Film-comedy - Movie
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DVD An Evening With Kevin Smith 2 - Evening Harder
While watching An Evening with Kevin Smith 2 (let's skip over that stupid subtitle, shall we?), you may ask yourself, "Why should I give a **** about anything Kevin Smith has to say?"--and then you'll be laughing in agreement with a lot of what he says. For better or worse, the potty-mouthed creator of Clerks and Dogma is an expert at combining his own "View Askew" perspective with stand-up comedy and ribald Q&A with (mostly) appreciative audiences. The novelty here is that Smith (now looking richer and more custom-tailored than he did on the cover of An Evening with Kevin Smith ) is equally at home with fans in Toronto and London, where his cross-cultural observations inform much of their humorous interaction. Whether he's discussing the X-Men movies as homosexual allegory, recalling how his wife caught him masturbating to pictures of her that he shot for Playboy, or making prescient observations about Mel Gibson's career meltdown (just a few of the many topics covered here), Smith remains admirably frank about his fan-base, his limited skills as a filmmaker, and his counter-cultural status as a chubby fan-boy who made good in Hollywood. Even when he tests your tolerance with opinions best kept to himself, Smith is a focused observer of his own milieu, willing to expose his insecurities while refusing to suffer fools in his audience (and there are more than a few).
As with his previous stand-up DVD, Smith welcomes frequent (and now drug-free) costar Jason Mewes onstage for some extreme (and extremely funny) sex-talk, including demonstrations of Mewes' "half-half-whole" technique (don't ask), and later (as a disc 2 bonus feature) approaching young London women with a the kind of pick-up lines (like "Let me get up in them guts") that only a guy like Mewes could get away with. Dropping F-bombs like there's no tomorrow, Smith is crude but intelligent (nobody makes it on luck alone), and this two-disc set will satisfy established fans and would-be converts alike. Likewise, Smith-haters will find nothing to change their minds, since Smith occasionally comes across as smug and self-satisfied, even when he's really not. What matters here is the humor of a self-effacing guy who's never quite sure if he deserves his own success. That puts Smith on even terms with his fans, and it's that dynamic, more than anything else, that makes these concerts a whole lot of fun. --Jeff Shannon
Review(s): DVD An Evening With Kevin Smith 2 - Evening Harder
So far - not as good as the first one
I watched the Toronto gig on the first disc of "An Evening with Kevin Smith: Evening Harder" last night. It was nowhere near as funny as any of the material on the original "Evening with Kevin Smith" DVD. A few parts were worth a chuckle, I laughed out loud once or twice but mostly I just sat there waiting for it to get better. The stories were longer and more drawn out than usual, (Dora the Explorer comes to mind) and some bits extremely painful. (Like the first question asked of the night.) It also appears that the show was filmed quite a while ago, as the material was pretty well dated - Bush just getting re-elected, Ben Affleck single.
While I am a huge KS fan, and know he can tell an awesome story, I am under the impression that he pushed this lame disc out in time for the holidays.
Once I watch the second disc and all of the bonus material, I'll be back to revise this. In the meantime, I'd recommend renting it vs. buying it.
Hysterical and importantly, honest
I remember watching the film Batman Returns with the commentary by Tim Burton once. Such a great looking, stylized film and the commentary was filled with so many "you know"'s and "uh"'s that you can tell at times that most of his genius is in his head and not actually telling you how he does it. Kevin Smith, while not the greatest visual director and even he will tell you so, has a whole lot to say and in between bouts of slight frustration with the guy, it's really quite interesting to just hear the guy talk about everything.
Disc I is probably my least favorite one, with a Q&A he did in Toronto. Granted Smith does what he does, and well, the only problem is despite an enthusiastic audience, they ask some of the most inane questions that Smith can't do anything with. Or at times they go on and on and you're like "be quiet and give the mic to someone else". Some stories are interesting such as his fascination for Dora the Explorer and his power trip when he became Student Council President. His daughter Harley introduces the show and Jason Mewes and Smith's wife Jen shows up as well. Again, it's a show that has its occasional funny parts (ninjas in Passion of the Christ?) but the audience severely slowed the pace.
What should be your first trip going in is the show he did in London. Some of the stories he tells are fascinating such as shooting his wife for a Playboy shoot, as well as his daughter's fascination with the word ****(the s one) and her eventual horror as to what it actually means. Not to mention a raunchy alternate idea he would have to close Return of the King. Don't think that pace-killing audience members stayed in Canada either. The most inane question is asked ("if you were half man half sausage, which half would you be?") and much time is spent on a woman who asks about sex euphemisms not because she's a total blonde, well that too, but Smith couldn't even hear her at times. More consistently funny than Toronto, this is the better show of the 2.
That "frustration" I mentioned earlier? Well I guess the writer/director of Mallrats and Chasing Amy is just who he is, as he says in the show, but the excessive potty humor doesn't really derail the film so much as it makes you wish he would skip the excessive jokes about male oral sex and do intelligent monologues like during the show. And like Tim Burton with his "ya know?", Smith loves saying "and s***". Take a drink when he says it and you'll be on the floor before he leaves the stage.
I haven't seen the first one so I can't compare it but as it is, it is a funny and intimate look at a director known more for his words than anything else...except for being a fat guy, as he says.
Woody Allen don't do Q&A'S like this!
The idea for this DVD may sound a bit odd for those not fimiliar with the concept. It's director Kevin Smith ("Clerks", "Mallrats", "Jersey Girl" etc) doing a Q&A with a college audience, in this case in London and Toronto. The idea doesn't sound all that interesting but in fact it is. And the result is a very funny conversation about life, movie making, Ben Afleck, Dora The Explorer, Lord Of The Rings and much more! Because Kevin has a tendancy to go off on tangents you get the feel you're watching a stand up act. The difference is this isn't rehearsed but it's just as funny. If you're a fan of Kevin's movies, you'll love this (as well as the previous Evening With) DVD.
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Before Kevin Smith became a Hollywood darling with Chasing Amy, a film he wrote and directed, he made this $27,000 comedy about real-life experiences working for chump change at a New Jersey convenience store. A rude, foul-mouthed collection of anecdotes about the responsibilities that go with being on the wrong side of the till, the film is also a relationship story that takes some hilarious turns once the lovers start revealing their sexual histories to one another. In the best tradition of first-time, ultra-low budget independent films, Smith uses Clerks as an audition piece, demonstrating that he not only can handle two-character comedy but also has an eye for action--as proven in a smoothly handled rooftop hockey scene. Smith himself appears as a silent figure who hangs... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Jeff Anderson - Brian O'Halloran DVD Release Date: Released the 29 June 1999 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Sophomore jinx hit hard in this second film by Kevin Smith, whose debut Clerks transcended the limits of its setting and budget to become something memorably funny. (Smith followed Mallrats with the wonderful Chasing Amy, so Mallrats definitely had the old curse.) A ramshackle comedy set in a mall, the film follows several story lines involving lovers, enemies, friends, goofballs, and Smith's own "silent" character, who also appeared in Clerks and Chasing Amy. A heavy self-consciousness weighs on everything, as if Smith forgot how to make obscenity funny instead of tedious. Still, it's nice to see some of the director's film family on screen, among them Jason Lee and Joey Lauren Adams. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Shannen Doherty - Jason Lee - Jeremy London DVD Release Date: Released the 20 September 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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