An Evening With Kevin Smith on DVD (2002)

neuro#1 from GLASGOW , 19/04/2004

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Don't be put off by the criminally brief synopsis above - <b>An Evening with Kevin Smith</b> contains 2 disc and 3 hours 45 minutes of highlights from Kevin's 2002 lecture tour of US colleges. The word "lecture" conjures images of stuffy professors, overhead projectors and a strange smell of Ajax mixed with dope, but this is nothing of the sort. If you've ever seen Kevin doing interviews or Roadside Attractions on <i>The Tonight Show</i>, you have a taste of what he's like in these shows.

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The basic format is a question and answer session with Kevin at a podium in front of an auditorium full of students. They come up to a mike in the aisle and proceed to ask Kevin a variety of humdingers, ranging from queries about his movies and past, through various offers for him to come back and "just party, dude" and even pointed questions about his sexual proclivities - every answer Kevin gives is one, some or all of interesting, funny, and somewhat self-deprecating.

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Kevin gives insight into the production of his movies, his breakneck path into the industry, offers many anecdotes about his friends, his family, movie studios, <i>High Times</i> and the plate of weed, what people will do for five bucks, why he hates Tim Burton and a 45 minute saga of his trek to Paisley Park to make a documentary about Prince.

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There are no clips from his movies, no guest appearances from his troupe of actors - except Jason Mewes, who really doesn't seem lucid enough to be on the stage! - it's just Kevin, the audience and you, and it's fantastic.

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  12 out of 17 people found this review helpful

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Marc Smith from Bishop Auckland , 01/08/2004

The man rarely speaks in his own films (Chasing Amy, Dogma, Clerks, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back) but here, Kevin Smith is the only one who speaks, and boy does he.

Culled from a tour of U.S. Universities, Smith opens the floor to the plethora of star struck and clearly rather inebriated teenagers and answers their questions, no matter how dumb or homo-erotic they may be. And he proves to be not only a great story teller, but also a superb comic with great timing and a razor sharp edge that cuts down the over-fed preening little WASP types down to the quick.

Topics range from his friendship with the high as the sky Jason Mewes (Jay in the aforementioned films) to his time trying his best to write Superman Lives (a hilarious tale of Jon Peters, the producer of Batman, and his obsession with getting Superman to fight a giant spider) to a long and thoroughly hysterical story of the time Smith was told by Prince to make a documentary about him.

If you love the films of Kevin Smith, this is heaven.If you're unsure, rent Chasing Amy alongside this and see that the man is not only a great wit, but also one of the best screenwriters out there.

Although clocking in a 2 discs and over three hours running time, the show never lags and is fresh and funny throughout.

Snoogens.

  5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

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A customer from South Wales , 01/10/2004

If this were a 90 minute film, it would easily be Smith's funniest feature since Chasing Amy - but it's a 150 minute film so kind of drags on a bit.

As other reviewers have said, it's worth watching only if you skip to the stories about the Prince documentary that never was and the Superman film that never was.

One thing that REALLY spoiled it for me was the audience - these Evenings are filmed at US Universities, where the cream of America's intelligent youth are, yet after almost every word anyone says you're deafened by screams and cries of 'WHOOOOO! YEAH!!!!!! ALRIGHT!!!!!', one woman gets a round of applause for spelling her name correctly... George Bush will definitely get a second term.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

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Mark Livesey from Bolton, UK , 12/11/2004

If you have watched any of the Viewaskew offerings, such as Clerks, Dogma, Chasing Amy, Jay&Silent Bob etc, this should eb top of your wants list.

Over 3hours of Kevin 'Silent Bob' Smith tales of mischeif from the world of hollywood and movie making.

Rent this title, you will not be dissapointed!

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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A customer from Bristol , 18/08/2008

Great for Kevin Smith nerds :)

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A customer from PLYMOUTH , 18/08/2008

Too many Ameican students trying to ingratiate themselves with the big man

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