A View Askew: How Kevin Smith Changed Cinema

The world can be split into two groups of people: those who like Kevin Smith‘s films, and those who don’t. This week, Smith’s third feature film, Chasing Amy, celebrated its 20th anniversary. The off-beat romantic comedy starring Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams was a game-changer on multiple levels; for Smith as a filmmaker, and for the genre as a whole. Smith put Affleck, then a little-known rising star, on the map, and solidified Smith’s spot amongst Hollywood’s new age of auteurs. Chasing Amy follows a comic book artist (Affleck) who falls for a lesbian (Adams), and throws his relationship with his best friend (Jason Lee) into contention in the process. Some of Chasing Amy‘s depictions of the LGBTQ community may come off as #problematic nowadays, but the film’s authentic emotional aspects and clever, gritty humor make it one of Smith’s finest flicks to date. Smith’s understanding of modern romance and friendship is one that not many directors possess, and his penchant for cringe-worthy comedy and true-to-life dialogue is largely part of what’s kept his work relevant for years. He’s paved the way for a number of comedic directors working today, and it all started with Clerks.

The premise for Clerks was pretty mundane; it’s simply a day in the life of Dante and Randall, the respective clerks of a convenience store and a video store in New Jersey. When Dante gets called in on his day off (“I’m not even supposed to be here today!”), he is confronted by a slew of problems: obnoxious customers, his ex-girlfriend getting married, his current girlfriend revealing a surprising sexual past, and a duo of drug dealers (the infamous Jay & Silent Bob) loitering outside the store all day. There wasn’t much to the flick, but the groundbreaking authenticity of the characters and the mundanity of middle-class existence, $27,000 microbudget (and eventual $3 million box office performance), and bare-bones production style got Smith the attention of critics and audiences alike, and gained the film a cult classic status. Smith’s humor is certainly not for everyone – it’s uproariously profane – but his weird, natural sense of human nature and dialogue is what got Clerks its well-deserved attention.

Smith followed up Clerks with a prequel of sorts titled Mallrats, a film that ultimately was not as beloved by critics as its predecessor due to the studio’s heavy hand in production. The flick takes place the day before Clerks does, and focuses on a pair of best friends (Jason Lee and Jeremy London) who are dumped by their girlfriends on the same day and seek out refuge in their local mall. Mallrats is also rife with the comedy that made Clerks a success, but there’s a hamminess to this film that makes it clear that it’s not all Smith. Despite its initial critical backlash, it later gained the same cult love that Clerks had – after all, Smith’s signature knack for real-life dialogue and crude humor still rang true, and Jay & Silent Bob were given a lot more to do here than they’d done in Clerks.

Chasing Amy came after Clerks, and the film’s performance and reception evidently led to Smith becoming something of a fixture in the Hollywood scene. Dogma, Smith’s controversial religious satire, followed Amy, and he enlisted the talents of Affleck, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman, Chris Rock, and more to tell his irreverent tale of fallen angels. The last few films in the View Askewniverse were essentially sequels to his existing work; Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks II most notably among them. While Smith has directed a slew of features and episodes of television series, it’s just these particular handful of his films that exist within the View Askewniverse. The fictional universe is named for his production company, View Askew Productions, and connects the same characters, motifs, and settings throughout the films. The content that exists within this universe is essentially what defined Smith as a filmmaker, and allowed him to take his career to the place it currently resides. He places everyman characters into their most comfortable locale and explores the depth that exists in the seemingly banal occurrences of everyday existence, and puts his own twisted, often crass spin on it.

Smith’s distinctive style of storytelling has not gone overlooked by some of today’s most popular filmmakers. Comedy writer and frequent Judd Apatow collaborator Seth Rogen has even credited Smith for showing him what comedy could be: “I really think that’s what let us know it was OK to try writing Superbad — just that something like that could exist,” Rogen spoke of Clerks. “I just thought it was the funniest stuff ever, just how dirty it was. Even when we were making 40-Year-Old Virgin, I was a heavy proponent of making it really dirty and pushing the envelope with the friends and just making them very real guys’ guys, and a lot of that came from my love of Clerks and Kevin Smith. I would say I’m a direct product of his work.” Rogen and Smith worked together on Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which finally connected the seemingly destined-to-be-together Apatow and Smith. Smith’s subtle, prosaic influence is also prominent in the work of newer filmmakers like Joe Swanberg (Smith is certainly not an example of Mumblecore, but still). “Kevin Smith laid down the track,” Judd Apatow told fans at Comic-Con in 2007. While Apatow certainly owns the gross-out, sweet, stoner comedy turf nowadays, he’s quick to acknowledge that there had to be someone before him. And we’re damn glad Smith was there to pave the way.

While Smith’s work as of late (Tusk, Yoga Hosers) has certainly made a departure from the work that put him on the map (I was admittedly completely horrified by Tusk), what’s fascinating about these recent flicks is that his growth is apparent on screen with each one. Maturity, fatherhood, and newfound interests shine through each project he creates, and there’s something thrilling about being completely in the dark about what he’ll do next. Yes, his films are polarizing – but wouldn’t it be boring if they were all crowd-pleasers? There’s no one quite like Smith in Hollywood, and that’s what makes him so great – his prolific career, appreciation for everyday life, and reach across genres (and endearing geek identity) is one that will likely remain unmatched for years to come.