Kevin Smith and A Brief History of Smut

Kevin Smith must be the cleanest filmmaker in America – he’s always in hot water. The convenience store graduate who made Clerks, Dogma and now Zack and Miri Make a Porno has spent so much time with the US censors – the MPAA – they should give him his own office. Or failing that, his own orifice (he’d probably prefer it).

The latest dispute involves the threat of the NC-17 rating – which is considered the kiss of death for box office prospects in the US because so many media outlets refuse to carry advertising for anything beyond an R rating. Through the appeals process Smith and his distributor, The Weinstein Company, reached a satisfactory compromise on that score, but not before several different trailers and the poster had been rejected. In the US, the original poster – in which Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks appeared fully clothed – has been replaced with stick figures and lots of text. As Smith is the first to admit, at least it’s an appropriate indication of his rudimentary visuals and dialogue-heavy style. Even now, cinemas in several states have refused to show the film simply on the strength of its title. (Here the BBFC has given the film an 18 rating.)

None of this is new to Smith, nor is it entirely undeserved. Right from day one, Clerks (1994) was threatened with an NC-17. A micro-budget, credit-card comedy in which Smith and his pals hang out, shooting the shit all day in their slave-wage jobs – suffering the occasional interruption from an awkward customer or two – the movie looked like it cost even less than the $27,000 Smith invested in it. There was no explicit sex or violence – he couldn’t afford it, and he wouldn’t know how to shoot it – but the dialogue was something else: frank and candid and dirty as an orgy in a mud-wrestling ring.

Harvey Weinstein picked it up and hired star attorney Alan Dershowitz – the guy Ron Silver played in Reversal Of Fortune – to protect it from the worst blows of the MPAA. (Successfully, as it turned out.)

Since then, you couldn’t say that Smith has cleaned up his act. Mallrats features a topless palm-reader with three nipples. Chasing Amy (1997) ran into flak from the lesbian community. Dogma (1999) was condemned by the Catholic League (though Smith is a practicing Catholic himself). The attacks forced Disney to sell the movie on to Lions Gate, and Smith estimated he received over 300, 000 pieces of hate mail, even death threats.

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) contained an impressive 248 uses of the “F”-word –not counting deleted scenes – and was protested by gay rights groups. Clerks II (2006) involved a bestiality show-stopper and learned discourse on elfin sexual proclivities. Jersey Girl (2004) was a vehicle for “Bennifer” – nuff said.

Described like this, Smith sounds like a lost cause, a juvenile shock artist who refuses to grow up (Russell Brand, please take a bow). But that’s not the whole story. There’s a sweetness that goes hand in hand with the spice. It comes through most affectingly in Chasing Amy – still probably his best film – but it’s there in the other movies too. He likes his characters, and it shows. And he’s aware of their immaturity, their insensitivity, all those intrinsically “guy” vices. He cops to these failings himself, and you can see that he’s working on it. The question is, can he stay honest, keep his edge, and get in touch with the more mature Kevin Smith hovering in the background? And will the fans stick by him if he does?

The success of Judd Apatow and his protégés suggests there is a much larger audience out there if Smith can grow a little – as a filmmaker, and as a nearly middle-aged man (he’s 38). Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin are not far from the View Askew universe, they’re just a bit more polished and thought through.

In the meantime, it’s hardly worth getting your knickers in a twist over Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Despite the raunch, it’s an old fashioned love story at heart – and most 15 year olds will have seen far graphic images on the Internet.

Tom Charity
tom.charity@lovefilm.com

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