Kevin Smith Ranked

When i was like 11 i kept seeing these figures, Jay & Silent Bob, pop up in Toy Fair Magazine, I was intrigued, my uncle had figured out that he had a VHS that contained these characters. Clerks was the film, and it was lost on me. Then around the time of Dogma's release, some stations played Mallrats & Chasing Amy, I liked them but didn't love them. Then for some reason i rewatched them prior to Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, and i got them all, i was 13, and i loved them, and i never looked back. For the next 5 years, leading up to Clerks 2,  i watched them every time they would be on Comedy Central or USA, i had them all on VHS(still have Clerks) and bought the dvds, and they took regular spins in my player, and did they recently when i rewatched them for this post. Here is my ranking of every Kevin Smith film, with the exception of shorts, such as his segment in Holidays, utter trash.


1. Clerks
My all time favorite film. For me it showed me on the screen, I related to them, they were guys stuck in a rut, all his Askewniverse films have been that way. I related to it at 13, and especially do these days. It inspired me to be a filmmaker, it was cheap, it was easily shot but it had amazing dialogue. I have seen it well over 37 times, and that is an understatement. The amount of love i have for this film is insane.

2. Clerks 2
I dressed up as Jay(which was pretty much how i looked back in 2006 regardless, for the premier. The audience was amazing, it was a celebration of the film by hardcore fans, and i legit cried during the opening credits.

3. Chasing Amy
Easily his best film, it has 90s raw indie grittiness to the look, plus it couldn't be made right now, and if it did it would be sparked with controversy.

4. Mallrats
Possibly the lightest of the Askewniverse but still amazing. Sure it has flaws, but Smith clashed with Universal while making it. The upcoming sequel series i am skeptical of, as i watch  these films(the Askewniverse) once a year, and it is a hell of a lot easiler to binge a 2 hour movie as opposed to a tv season.

5. Dogma
This showed Smith can do genre film, and he did it well. , it is a film that had protest back i nthe day, and i can only imagine what it would be like these days.

6. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back
This is a film that switches with Dogma in spots, but i still love it. It is a celebration of  the series, and is just a silly flick, a little too over the top at times, but fuck it, you can still have a good time.

7. Yoga Hosers
I don't get the hate for this film, it is stupid & cheesy but that is why i dug it. It starts off kinda lame but it gets so much better. Folks hating on it, must not be trash cinema fans, or shit like Critters. Sure it is dumber than those but it is a lot of fun. Johnny Depp is awesome in it, his daughter outshines Smith's daughter for sure, Justin Long is great aswell. Hell all the bit parts are good, the effects suck, but fuck it, it kind of works in the cheapness, smoke a bowl & enjoy it.

8. Tusk
The comedic version of the Human Centipede, and a hell of a lot better than those films.

9. Zack & Miri Make a Porno
SMith said he wanted to make a Judd Apatow film.....Apatow had been making Smith films, overly long Smith Films, Smith>Apatow anyday!

10. Jersey Girl
Another film that gets a lot of hate, i may not watch it often, but it is not a bad flick by any means.

11. Red State
A highly divisive film of his, and i am still split. I liked it when i first saw it,  but found it flawed. Then upon repeat viewing certain aspects get better, certain ones don't.

12.Cop Out
Nope.....awful.


Now some directors have an evolution, but Smith's is an odd one. Clerks is a solid debut, Mallrats is a solid studio debut. one got loved, the other got hate, his third, got more love. Chasing Amy feels like the film that had fans thinking, holy shit, here it is, the next Smith movie. By time Dogma rolled around he had his cult. Jay & Silent Bob was a great swan song for the universe. Jersey Girl, with its flaws, still feels like a next step, he was trying something new. The backlash was there, he went back to the Askewniverse, and this time, it was a sequel, Clerks 2 was amazing, but that is where Kevin Smith died. Instead of trying to out Smith/Apatow Apatow, he should have just done something organic, hell porn still could have been involved, he just went about it the wrong way. Cop Out? Well we all knew he would do a directors for hire film, but atleast choose a better project. He then went back to "square one"  distributing his own films, his horror films. Red State could have felt like Smith, but instead, feels like a film a Smith fanboy like myself would have made. Tusk feels like Kevin Smith yet, in a self masturbatory sort of way. Yoga Hosers doesn't feel like Smith at all, but i still thought it was awesome. Bring on Hit Somebody, bring on Clerks 3, do Mallrats 2, and close with Ranger Danger & the Danger Rangers.