While attending the University of Georgia, I once participated in a Q & A session with Henry Kissinger. Not once did a guy ask Kissinger to go get high with him after the show. Yet while watching the DVD An Evening with Kevin Smith this was a repeated query by the many stoners in the audience.
An Evening with Kevin Smith is an often hilarious synopsis of Smith’s speaking engagements at many U.S. colleges. The DVD consists of Q & As at Kent State University, Cornell, Clark University, Indiana University, and the newly crowned “Pot Head Capital of the World,” The University of Wyoming.
The DVD is 192 minutes of mostly laughter mixed in with numerous moments of Jason Mewes look- alikes and loser Brodie wannabes peppering the director of Dogma with inane requests to either get high with him or to be allowed to perform a sex act on him. Actually, most of these people were at the University of Wyoming. When I think of Wyoming, I think of.. wait… I have no flipping clue about Wyoming. Now though, I presume that those guys are smoking a lot of dope while staring at photos of Jason Lee, their hero.
Thankfully, the DVD edits all five of the college stops together so that the stoners do not derail this outrageously funny look inside Kevin Smith. While cursing every other word is the only underlying theme, Smith actually weaves some very interesting stories that shine a little light on moments in his career that we have all heard about. Do you want to know how he met Mewes (Jay from Clerks) or Mojo? Wanna hear about Jay’s sex tape? You’ll find all of that here. Smith also shares tidbits on how many death threats he got over Dogma and how he recommended Affleck for the Daredevil role. If you are a fan of any of his films, you will enjoy the many anecdotes about his previous works.
One of the highlights of the DVD is the back-story of what happened with his “Superman Lives” treatment. He describes the “Superman” project from beginning to end; including the perplexing moment when executive producer Jon Peters tells Smith that the next Superman movie needs to follow three rules:
1. No Superman suit 2. No flying 3. A big spider must be in it
Without ruining the jokes, you quickly understand how frustrating it must be talking to a Warner Brothers executive. This story alone is worth the rental price for science fiction fans.
Smith’s other major anecdotes are the foundation of the Tim Burton feud, a mystifying travel to the world of Prince to film his documentary, and an open sore on his penis (trust me; it is more interesting than it sounds).
The Brodie wannabes in the world are going to think this is hilarious for the sophomoric humor. Hey I almost cried from laughter almost the entire length of the DVD. Yet the DVD should entertain not only the comic book fanatics but also the casual fan that will appreciate the stories more than the “fart and dick “jokes. Snoochie Boochies!
