Kevin Smith's \Jersey Girl"" is out in theaters this week, and I really haven't decided yet whether I want to chip in five bucks to see it or not. After seeing his first five films a couple years ago, I'll admit that I was waiting with a degree of anticipation to see ""Jersey Girl"" in theaters.
While I usually get a laugh or two from Smith's crude humor which so dominates his films, what fascinates me about those movies is his versatility as a writer combined with his sheer incompetence behind a camera. The fact is that ""Clerks"" has startlingly different themes at its core than does ""Dogma,"" and if you substitute any other two Smith films the same will be true. The writing can't be described as art but it can be described as honest and interesting. You can tell that Smith is a writer, because all his films are extremely plain when it comes to visuals.
And given that he's broken into filmmaking just by screwing around with what he wants to do, this makes sense. He's not an artist, but he's not in the business of pandering to audiences in order to rake in big box-office dough, either. More than anything else he has done, maybe that's what I respect the most.
But leading into ""Jersey Girl,"" I'm starting to wonder if Smith is letting his self-awareness get the best of him. Posting on his own official site, Smith asked for people to keep their negative comments to themselves for a week. He flat-out declared that ""Jersey Girl"" wouldn't be a critical or box-office hit before it even hit theaters. The entire thing came off very defensive in a ""this isn't for critics, this is for those who 'get' it"" kind of way. It seemed out of character.
Then I thought back to ""Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,"" which was basically a movie made as the biggest inside joke of all time between Smith and his fans. Throughout the film, several jokes were aimed at those who bash films online. At the time, I laughed and figured Smith was making it clear that he didn't care who hated his films.
Looking at it again, I wonder why a successful filmmaker would even acknowledge Internet criticism, even just to get a cheap laugh. Sure, having to deal with putting out the first Ben and Jen film since ""Gigli"" can't be easy. And judging by all reports, ""Jersey Girl"" is such a huge step in another direction that most of Smith's core audience will hate it. But the fact is that anyone secure with the job they have done won't bristle at the crap thrown their way. So what's Kevin so insecure about?
wwtemby@wisc.edu.
