Kevin Smith's Dogma

>Kevin Smith has always been his own worst enemy, so yeah, he often made himself into a pariah.

The guy had one good decade where he was simply on fire and has since lapsed into making hit-or-miss stuff since. I haven't seen anything he's done since Clerks 2 which I felt was dreadfully bad. But this is actually a pretty common arc for most directors and actors. They're often only great for a 5- to 10-year period and then fade.

>Replace Life of Brian with The Holy Grail and your reply would spell out my thoughts to a T.

I feel Holy Grail is light-years better than the other films. One of my all-time favs. That's what makes Life of Brian so disappointing sometimes.

I'm just going to use this as an excuse to put the Upper Class Twit of the Year competition. I watch this skit every few months at least. Kills me every time.

Since the first time I watched it, I've preferred Life of Brian. It's a lot more structured than Holy Grail, and I also find it more humorous. Don't get me wrong; Holy Grail is hilarious. I've never seen a Monty Python anything, except the 2014 thing, and not laughed hysterically. I can't not enjoy their comedy. I just think Life of Brian is the better film. I accept that people typically prefer Holy Grail. I'd love to see Life of Brian in a cinema. That sounds like the best time ever.

Okay back to Dogma. I enjoyed reading the thread up to this point, since that's where it stopped. Clerks. and Dogma are all right. Kevin Smith doesn't really write stuff I enjoy. Dogma has some interesting ideas, and this is good for the fans. I'm just not one of them. He has his niche, which is better than a lot of people. I don't usually like toilet humor and his movies look like it's him saying, "This sounded funny in my head, so I'm making this person say it." I'll stick to the blasphemously unblasphemous Life of Brian.

I almost forgot; Hotel Security; that sketch is hilarious. It's complete nonsense and has no reason for any of it and it's always a riot. I applaud your choice.

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I was, at one time in my life, a huge Kevin Smith fan. He made some real gems in his early career, and I am glad to see Dogma getting a rerelease instead of a terrible sequel. Clerks 3 was unforgivably bad.

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Interesting. I love all Python, the show, And Now For Something Completely Different, Holy Grail, Meaning Of Life... but I do think that Life Of Brian is their best film. If I had to pick.

Upperclass twit of the year competition is pure gold

Fundamentally, I think Smith lacks confidence as an artist. He has things to say and he's not unintelligent, but he doesn't seem to think he can stick the landing, so he uses crassness as a cover. We get bathroom humor as a kind of bluster. If JJ uses blind speed to stay ahead of his plot holes, Smith uses dick jokes to wallpaper over weak storytelling. The sad truth he may lack the finesse to tell a straight ahead story. I think he's felt stung at his straight ahead earnest efforts like Jersey Girl.

I suspect (as I have said many times in the past) that he might shine if just given the task of writing something small, realistic, and prosaic. No dick jokes. Adults in conversation. Nothing fantastic. Nothing genre-bound. No explosions. No cameos. No ironic winking at the screen. A story with people in real world relationships working out real world problems. A slice of life.

Not to be snobbish about it, but I really think you could apply that to just about everyone working in Hollywood right about now...

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